The Huntress
by Amphy
Summary: Yumi has no interest whatsoever in becoming Sachiko's soeur. Sachiko, however, is determined to make Yumi accept her rosary no matter what.
1. So they meet

**Disclaimer: Hahahahaha, if I owned MariMite, I'd be filthy rich by now. But I'm not, so obviously I don't own it.**

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The Huntress**

I. So they meet

Yumi Fukuzawa was standing in front of the statue of Maria-sama. Everyday, before one actually entered the school, the girls of Lillian Girls' Private Academy in Tokyo said their prayers to the Virgin Mary, who was watching over them. Yumi was no exception; why would she be one? She was just your normal, average girl, wearing pigtails in her hair, which made her look very childish yet very cute at the same time. And that cuteness had not passed unnoticed in a certain person's eyes…

Yumi was already heading for the school building, when someone called out to wait. As preferred at this school, Yumi turned around slowly and gracefully and turned her attention fully to the person who had told her to wait. She then noticed it was none other than the most popular and wanted girl of this school, Ogasawara Sachiko. And if Yumi was really your normal, average girl, she would have squealed by now, stunned by the fact that someone as cool as Sachiko had noticed her. But because of some childhood trauma, caused by her rich and upper classed aunt when she was just a little girl (in which we will not dig deeper into now), Yumi didn't really care for rich and upper classed people. Not that she knew about her lack of sympathy for high classed people, of course. So the girl merely acknowledged, nevertheless a bit shyly, that Rosa Chinensis en bouton had told her to wait.

Sachiko walked to the girl in slow-motion, as if she took the rule about walking slowly very seriously; in reality however, she had noticed that thousands and thousands of yuri-fans were looking at Yumi and her, so she had decided to let this scene last as long as possible, just to give the fans something for their money. Yumi was wondering why Sachiko was walking so incredibly slowly; she had been already walking in her direction for more than five minutes, crossing a distance that merely counted fifteen metres. The girl finally reached her destination in a record time of seven minutes.

"My, your ribbon is all crooked," Sachiko said before fixing it. Out of nowhere, Tsutako appeared and took the picture which would become a legendary picture later, and she disappeared again to where she came from.

"Please be more careful next time," Sachiko sighed after she had finished her job. "You sexy thing," she added in a murmur before watching Yumi from head to toe, in the meanwhile licking her lips.

"Excuse me?" Yumi asked in confusion. She was pretty sure she had heard the girl say something very improper, but Rosa Chinensis en bouton would never say such a thing, so perhaps it had been just a trick of her mind…?

"Nothing. Just take care of your uniform properly, okay?"

Sachiko then walked away, in the process fighting herself from grabbing Yumi's firm behind. She heard the younger girl say "Thank you very much, Sachiko-sama", but she had preferably heard her say something else, something more in the line of "Thank you very much, Sachiko-sama, and as a reward you can do with me as you please". Whatever. She would make the girl scream it to her when she was done with her. Because no-one could resist Ogasawara Sachiko.

_**Later that day…**_

"Yumi-san, gokigenyou." Tsutako-san was waving a picture in front of Yumi's face, looking very smug while doing so.

"Look at this picture I've taken this morning. Isn't it, like, the best picture you've ever seen?"

Yumi frowned when she looked at the photo showing Sachiko and her in a very soeur-like situation.

"Actually, in my opinion, this picture really isn't that good… I mean, it's pretty obvious that there's too much sunlight, so the colours are flat…" Tsutako glared at Yumi, who fell silent seeing the look on her classmate's face.

"Yumi-san, when did you become an expert in photography? Whatever, just look at what the picture shows… You and Rosa Chinensis en bouton, as if you were soeurs! Aren't you excited?" Tsutako looked at Yumi expectantly, but the girl merely shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it does look like we're soeurs, but I don't really care. I don't have any need for a soeur right now." A surprised look made its way to Tsutako's face, but she quickly composed herself and smiled.

"Okay then, if you think of it that way, I guess you won't mind then if I displayed this picture in our yearly photo-exhibition? Ah… But I also need permission from Sachiko-sama before I can use it… Would you like to come with me to the Rose Mansion to ask her?"

Without asking, she grabbed Yumi's hand and dragged her all the way to the Rose Mansion.

_**In the meanwhile…**_

Sachiko was sitting in the Rose Mansion with the rest of the Yamayurikai. She was not having a discussion with her onee-sama about the school play, because she really didn't care that the prince would be Kashiwagi Suguru, her gay cousin and soon-to-be-not-fiancé. (They had agreed to break it off, as both Kashiwagi and Sachiko were obviously not interested in the opposite sex.) She did dislike men, but she could hardly see her cousin as male; she had once walked into his room without knocking and had seen the boy putting on make-up, whilst wearing nothing but a skirt and a bra. She had laughed for about an hour – having to go to the hospital afterwards, because her lungs had hurt so much due to the lack of oxygen caused by her hysterical laughter – but she had promised not to tell anyone what she had seen. Of course, it had raised people's eyebrows when she had given him that red bra and matching red panties for his birthday.

Anyway, seeing as everything was already settled for the Yamayurikai-play, Youko decided to annoy her petite soeur with something else: her desire to have Sachiko find a soeur of her own.

"Sachiko, when are you going to search for a petite soeur? It would relieve me to no end to see someone who can control you."

"Onee-sama," Sachiko said with an icy look in her eyes, "what do you mean by that, someone who can control me..? Besides, I won't search for a soeur. I will stumble upon one when the time is right…"

At that very exact moment, as if Maria-sama herself had wanted it that way, the door of the room miraculously opened, revealing a victorious-looking Tsutako Takeshima and a rather dishevelled Yumi Fukuzawa. The members of the student council all turned their heads to see who had just opened the door.

"Gokigenyou," Tsutako greeted politely. Yumi however was still a bit out of breath, having to run all the way here because Tsutako had did so while holding Yumi's hand in a tight grip, as if she had been afraid the girl would fly away to the moon.

"Gokigenyou," the three Roses greeted back. Sachiko said nothing but just stared at the doorway, pleasantly surprised because the adorable girl from this morning was standing there too.

"I'm sorry to disturb you like this," Tsutako said, "but I had something I'd like to ask to Sachiko-sama, if that's possible?"

Sachiko didn't reply; in fact, she hadn't even heard Tsutako. She was too busy daydreaming about the other girl, who looked in such a rumpled state, a bit sweaty, with inviting lips… She snapped out of her fantasies when she heard someone yelling her name.

"Sachiko!" Youko finally screamed after she had called out calmly for twenty times. "What made you space out like that? Tsutako-chan here asked you something."

"I'm sorry, onee-sama," Sachiko apologized. "I was just a bit busy thinking about something…" Her eyes drifted back to where Yumi stood. Youko noticed where Sachiko was looking at, and so did Sei.

"Ah? You just said you would stumble upon a petite soeur when the time was right. I guess you've found her now?" Sei asked with a smirk on her face.

Sachiko glared at the White Rose, but the attentive Tsutako had already understood what Sei had meant. "Oh? So Sachiko-sama would like Yumi-san to become her petite soeur, is that it? Then I bet she'll like this photograph…" She took a few steps to Sachiko, who gave Sei one last nasty look before turning to Tsutako.

"What do you mean, I would like this photograph..?" Her eyes widened however, when Tsutako practically shoved the picture under her nose. She was speechless, not only because she was appalled that someone dared to be so rude by shoving something under her nose, but also because she thought the picture was perfect. Well, almost perfect. It would've been perfect if the brown-haired girl were naked on it. But you can't have everything in life, can you. Rei, who was sitting next to Sachiko, also looked at the picture.

"My, this picture shows Sachiko and her – I believe your name was Yumi? – in a very soeur-like situation," Rei commented. Sachiko was still a bit bedazzled when all members of the student council gathered around her to watch the picture.

"Rei is right," Eriko said after she had taken a look at the photograph. "So you already have a petite soeur then, Sachiko-chan? And you didn't even tell us?"

It was Yumi who answered, still standing in the doorway, a bit shy. "Ehm, Sachiko-sama and I aren't soeurs. She just fixed my ribbon this morning, and I thanked her. I have no idea how Tsutako-san could have made a shot of it, but ehm… I know the picture is ambiguous, but I'm not Sachiko-sama's petite soeur."

Sachiko rose to her feet, ignoring the disappointed yet sceptical looks from her fellow council members, and opened her mouth to give them a more thorough explanation.

"Yumi here is right. I saw that her uniform was a bit ruffled, so I went and fixed it for her. I know we do look like close soeurs on the picture, but trust me, she's not my petite soeur. Yet."

The last word dropped like a bomb on an ice cream parlour, leaving everyone to react to it on her own way. Sei started laughing like she was some psycho woman; Shimako, for some unknown reason, took a piece of chocolat our of her bag and started eating it; Yoshino merely gasped, looking surprised (she would have reacted like Sei if she had undergone the surgery already... damn heart disease); Eriko did a little dance; Rei started baking a fruit cake and Youko went over to Sachiko and grabbed her hand, her eyes twinkling.

"I'm glad you've finally chosen your petite soeur," she said with a smile from here to Jamaica. Sachiko was beaming too, while Tsutako was frantically taking pictures of this marvellous scene, ready to sell them to the highest bidder if they got developed. Out of the doorway however, came a squeaky voice.

"W-Wait a second here!" Yumi gasped, rather shocked by this weird turn of events. "I'm sorry, what is this all about? Are you telling me that Sachiko-sama wants me to be her petite soeur?" She was looking from one Rose to another questioningly. Sachiko turned her attention to the short, sexy girl, and smiled.

"Yumi. I would like you to be my petite soeur, if you want to." Out of nowhere, she took out a rosary and held it to her expectantly. The thought of Yumi not accepting her rosary didn't even cross her mind, because after all, she _was_ Ogasawara Sachiko, the hottest girl on campus.

Yumi however, thought differently about it. She took a step backwards as if the rosary was some evil disease and she didn't want to be contaminated. "I-I'm sorry, Sachiko-sama," she said firmly after a few hesitant moments. "I'm very honoured that you want to make me your petite soeur, but I can't accept your rosary. I'm very sorry."

She quickly bowed, muttered "Gokigenyou" and dashed out of the room, leaving a totally perplexed Sachiko behind. Tsutako followed her, but not after taking a picture of Sachiko's baffled face first. After a few minutes of deafening silence, Sei whistled.

"Wow, I'd never expected her to turn you down so easily. What are you going to do now, Sachiko-chan?"

Sachiko didn't answer immediately, because her brains were still a pulpy mess in her skull. What the hell had just happened?

"Sachiko," Youko said softly after a while, "are you alright? Would you like some tea? Or would you like a piece of the fruit cake Rei-chan has just made in three minutes? Or maybe you want me to punish Sei for her tendency to blurt things out so casually? I always bring some really fine whips with me, and I could use them on Sei if you'd like to…"

Sachiko returned to the human world and watched Sei, who looked like she didn't mind at all if Youko whipped her.

"Thank you, onee-sama, but I don't think it's necessary for you to punish Rosa Gigantea." She said with a stoic look on her face and without questioning why Youko always brought a whip with her.

Sachiko was a bit disgusted by her own arrogance. She had thought Yumi would accept her rosary for sure, but now Sachiko had realised that they had only met this morning, and that they hadn't even had a conversation with each other yet. Well, not that it was really her fault for being so arrogant; she was just so used to heaps and heaps of girls goggling at her with eyes full of admiration and lust. Not that she really liked it, to be honest. But Yumi was not like that; she hadn't looked at her with those eyes, and she had turned her down so determinately… And it just happened that this girl was the only girl Sachiko really wanted to get to know better, in more than one way. She didn't really understood why, but Yumi had this effect on her. Maybe it was because of those pigtails; Sachiko had always been a sucker for girls who wore pigtails in their hair (except for her cousin Matsudaira Touko, who looked like an over-sized corckshrew with those pigtails).

Determination exploded in Sachiko's chest when she turned to the White Rose. "Sei-sama, you wanted to know what I'm going to do now? Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to make Yumi my petite soeur, no matter what!"

She looked a bit demonic now, breathing heavily and having her fists clenched very, very tightly. The other members of the Yamayurikai quickly turned their heads away so they wouldn't face Sachiko's deadly glare of mayhem. Sachiko didn't give a damn however; the only thing important now was to make sure Yumi accepted her rosary. Because the girl would accept it, and Sachiko would take care of that. No matter what.

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************A/N: Would you like me to continue this story, or would you rather hit me on the head with a baseball bat to make sure I'll never put a word on paper again? Either way, let me know!  
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	2. Soeur talk

Notes:

Ouch! I don't think it's in your benefit if you all hit me on the head with something, lol. How can I possibly update this story when I'm lying in the hospital? Anyway, as you all wish, I'll continue this fic. Thanks for the reviews, they're really motivating! (But not because you guys are threatening to break my skull if I don't update :p)

To kurakami: I didn't have the chance yet to thank you for your wonderful last comment on my previous story. So hereby: thank you. It made me happy, it really did.

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Maria-sama ga miteru. If I did, I would've let the light novels be translated into english.**

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II. Soeur-talk**  
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"Is it true that she actually turned down Sachiko-sama's offer?"

"Rosa Chinensis en bouton offered her rosary, but she refused?"

"Oh my…"

"Really…"

Yumi was getting a bit tired of all the gossiping around her. She wondered why it was such great news; surely she hadn't been the first person to decline a rosary? Hell, she hadn't even been the first person to decline Sachiko's rosary. Tsutako had told her that Toudou Shimako of their class, the current Rosa Gigantea en bouton, had also turned down Sachiko's offer to become her petite soeur. So really, why did they all care? True, Sachiko was Rosa Chinensis en bouton, but it was more as if she was the Queen of England or something, and Yumi a pot-smoking juggler who had bitten her ankles. Now that would've been news.

Uncomfortable with all the looks her classmates were giving her, Yumi walked towards the door, only to bump into no-one other than Sachiko.

"My, gokigenyou, Yumi," she greeted politely while quickly capturing Yumi before the girl would fall on the floor. It was a total accident that Sachiko's hands were on Yumi's buttocks as she held the girl tightly. Oh yeah, that was a nice feeling.

"T-Thank you," Yumi murmured with the slightest blush on her cheeks, well aware of the fact that Sachiko's hands were on a place where she normally wouldn't let anyone touch her.

"Be more careful now," Sachiko said and she let Yumi go, giving her a radiant smile. Every other girl on the planet would have started melting away by now, but Yumi merely gave back an equally radiant smile. Now it was pretty much the older girl who was experiencing the effect she gave most people, almost drooling herself under. Thank god she had been taught to keep her drool to herself. All those extra private lessons finally paid off.

"This is your class, right? I came here so I could have a little chat with you," Sachiko explained her presence in Yumi's class. She looked around; every girl of the class had gathered around the two girls, almost swooning as they were staring at Sachiko. One girl actually did faint, but no-one paid attention to that. It happened so often, that the nurses of the school had been forced to invent a pill that would wake one up immediately if that person had passed out. Damn those girls with their over-the-top admiration for everything that was hot, intelligent and female.

"Shall we go to a place that is more private then?" Yumi offered, noticing the many ears that followed the conversation. Sachiko nodded, leading Yumi outside the school building. They only stopped when they were all the way at the Rose Mansion, standing behind some bushes.

"I'm sure we won't be disturbed here," Sachiko said with a faint smile. Yumi nodded weakly; of course no-one would disturb them here, they were practically at the end of the world now. When Yumi had offered to go to a place more private, she had meant the end of the hallway, not to cross the entire campus to stand between a few trees.

"You wanted to talk to me about something?" Yumi finally asked when she felt that Sachiko wouldn't start the conversation; she was too busy staring at her for some reason, and it made Yumi feel odd, like a worm was wriggling in her abdomen.

"Ah, yes," the older girl said in bewilderment. Again, her mind had been completely elsewhere when she had been looking at Yumi. She cursed those hormones of hers. She was beginning to think more and more like a dirty old man… More and more like Sei, she realized with a shock.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I had no right in asking you to become my petite soeur so suddenly. We had only met that morning, so it's completely normal that you declined my offer. I understand."

It was better for them to start anew, Sachiko had concluded yesterday after that dramatic second meeting. That way they could build up a friendship, and if they were friends, she could grope and touch Yumi without being overly suspicious. That prospect was very alluring to her. Hopefully that friendship would then develop into something more, like soeur-ship (is that actually a word?), and after, or perhaps _with_ soeur-ship came…

"No, it's not really that," Yumi said with a small voice. "Again, I'm very honored that you asked me to become your petite soeur, Sachiko-sama. But, it's just, I have some personal reasons for not accepting anyone's rosary now, not only yours."

As Sachiko was wondering what Yumi meant with personal reasons, the girl continued.

"Sachiko-sama… May I be so bold as to ask you why you offered me your rosary yesterday?" Yumi asked curiously. Sachiko's brain was working at top speed now; she could never tell the girl the truth, really. What would Yumi do if she found out about her inexplainable desire to touch the girl in a more than indecent way? Ninety percent of the girls at school would commit murder to be touched by her like that, but not Yumi. Not yet, anyway.

"I'll leave that to your imagination," Sachiko finally answered in a mysterious way. It always did the trick; even teachers didn't dare to ask further if she answered that.

"Oh… Okay," Yumi said, a bit bemused. Sachiko thought she looked so cute in her confusion.

"I also wanted to ask you something," the older girl said. "Why don't you come by the Rose Mansion when you have the time? We could talk a bit, get to know each other better… Of course, you don't have to come if you don't want to."

"I'd love to come," Yumi answered excitedly, "but just as friends, right? Not as soeurs…" She started to sound more and more unsure, forcing Sachiko to cut in before she would change her mind.

"No, of course not, you've made it perfectly clear that you do not wish to become my petite soeur."

Sachiko gave Yumi another radiant smile before grabbing her hand and whispering "I think it's time for your next class already… I hope to see you after school".

Yumi nodded happily with a natural cuteness that made Sachiko's heart skip a few million beats, then turned around and walked to the school building. Sachiko kept watching her until she was completely out of sight. Even Thor, the ever so powerful god of thunder but in this case her ever so annoying uncle from father's side, couldn't erase the feeling of happiness that resided in Sachiko's heart now.

_**A **__**week later…**_

Yumi was sitting in her classroom, eating her bento. Tsutako approached her from behind and made the girl cry out in shock by merely saying "Gokigenyou".

"Don't be so frightened, Yumi-san," Tsutako said in amusement. "I'm not here to steal your lunch away from you." Yumi stared at the girl unbelievingly, but eventually let out a deep sigh.

"Tsutako-san," she said after looking around to make sure no-one was near enough to hear her, "I've got this time of the day, you know, when I don't want to be disturbed. And that time is now. It's called 'bento-time'. That's when I like to lose myself in the delicious lunch I always bring with me."

Yumi looked upset because her bento-time had indeed been interrupted, but she didn't look quite as disturbed as Tsutako. Bento-time? And people actually dared to call her weird for shamelessly taking pictures all the time of people in embarrassing situations? The world had gone crazy indeed. Sighing, Tsutako sat herself onto the chair behind Yumi's desk.

"Sorry for disturbing your, eh, precious time, Yumi-san. But you go to the Rose Mansion pretty often now, don't you?"

Yumi nodded her head slowly; she had indeed been to the Rose Mansion every day after school since last week. It was quite an interesting place to be, actually. She was slowly getting to know the at-first-sight-unapproachable members of the Yamayurikai better. Especially Sachiko had come as a surprise; she knew the girl was from a rich, upper classed family, but it had struck her as surprising that she was actually a really friendly and kind person. (Wait… Where did that particular dislike for rich people come from?)

"Then, do you perhaps know the details of this little happening?" Tsutako held the Lillian Newspaper in front of Yumi's face.

"Y-Yellow Rose Revolution?" she gasped as she read the head line. Tsutako nodded. "Shimazu Yoshino, Rosa Foetida en bouton's petite soeur, gave back her rosary. But seeing your surprised look, I guess you know even less than me. What a shame," she sighed. Getting up from her chair, she took a picture of Yumi's astonished face. "You know, Yoshino-san isn't at school today," Tsutako said before walking away.

_**The next day…**_

Yumi found herself sitting next to Yoshino's bed in the hospital. The yellow flowers she had brought with them were in a vase on a cupboard next to her chair.

"Thanks for the flowers, Yumi-san," Yoshino said happily. She yawned and stretched herself before turning her attention back to the other girl.

"I guess you want to know what's going on, don't you? Well, this thing with the rosary and the surgery… It's all connected. You don't have to worry about it, after the operation everything will turn back to normal."

Yumi looked at Yoshino questioningly. How could the rosary and the operation be connected with each other? Yoshino saw the brown-haired girl looking and smiled.

"The reason why I decided to have the surgery is because I don't want Rei-chan to protect me anymore," she explained softly. "I want to be able to walk side by side with her… If she realizes that, I hope she'll give me her rosary again."

Yumi was about to shed a tear, when Yoshino burst out in neurotic giggles.

"Neih, who am I kidding? Yumi-san, I just want to be able to make hot, passionate love to Rei-chan, but I don't think my heart could handle it if I didn't have the surgery."

Yumi almost fell of her chair hearing those words; Yoshino didn't give the girl the time to be shocked however, as she mercilessly continued sharing information that Yumi didn't want to know at all.

"And the rosary… I gave it back to her, so we could make up later, you know. I read somewhere that make up sex is the best kind of sex, so I thought, why don't I make my first time the best time? I bet Rei-chan will like it too."

Too much information. Way too much information. Yumi was unable to speak; she could only stare at the other girl in painfully obvious shock. Wasn't Yoshino supposed to be very ladylike and calm? She had always seemed so, back at the Rose Mansion. But that felt like a completely different dimension, now Yumi had found out Yoshino's true nature.

"Don't look so surprised, Yumi-san," Yoshino giggled when she saw the dumbfounded look on the girl's face. "Almost every soeur-relationship is like that, didn't you know? Ah! Maybe that's why Sachiko-sama wanted to make you her soeur."

That revelation did make Yumi fall of her chair. "Wh-What are you saying now, Yoshino-san?" She said shakily after picking herself up from the ground. "That Sachiko-sama sees me that way? Don't be so ridiculous."

Yoshino simply shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know… It could be, couldn't it? You're the first person, besides the members of the student council, she has been so open with. Who knows what Sachiko is thinking."

_**18 hours later at the Rose Mansion…**_

It was pretty clear to Sei that Yumi was bothered by something. They were alone in the room, so she creeped up behind Yumi and hugged her, making the girl emit that cute dinosaur noise she always made.

"Rosa Gigantea!" Yumi uttered. The Rose had done it a couple of times before, but it always surprised her. She could sneak up on her so quietly… It made Yumi think of a dirty, old man.

"Yu-mi-chan! You're so cute when you squeal like that. Tell me, what's been bothering you? I can see on your face that something's wrong."

Sei let go of Yumi and sat herself down on the chair next to hers, looking at the girl curiously.

"Rosa Gigantea," Yumi began hesitantly, "I was wondering… Is it true that almost every soeur-relationship is, ehm… More intimate than it seems at first sight?"

Sei's eyebrows disappeared under her hair.

"Oh? Even more intimate than it already seems? What makes you think that?"

"I, ehm… I talked to Yoshino-san yesterday…"

A silly grin appeared on Sei's face.

"Ah, okay then. Well, Yoshino-chan and Rei-chan are, let's see… Hmmm… Well, Yoshino-chan has her surgery today, right? So that means… Yes, that means that by tomorrow, both Yoshino-chan and Rei-chan will have lost their virginity."

"Rosa Gigantea!" Yumi cried out in shock. Sei merely flashed the girl her trademark dirty-old-man grin.

"Well, it is those two you're talking about. Don't worry, not every soeur-relationship is like that. I, for example, don't have that kind of relationship with Shimako."

Yumi let out a sigh of relief, but then she heard Sei talking again.

"No, no, I only want that kind of relationship with you," she said jokingly before grabbing Yumi and tickling her in the ribs. The girl was laughing uncontrollably when the door opened. Sachiko entered the room stifly, her eyes blazing with murderous intent towards Sei. She quickly strode up to her and managed to pry Yumi out of Sei's dirty-old-man grip.

"She's mine," she hissed quietly but menacingly to the Rose, forgetting herself, thus being unaware that she had just exposed her real feelings for Yumi to Sei. Sachiko was experiencing a jealousy she had never felt before; no-one could touch her future petite soeur like that, and especially not a dirty old man like Sei.

"Oh? As you wish," Sei simply said. Inwardly however, she was roaring with laughter; wait until Youko heard about this!

"Are you alright, Yumi?" Sachiko asked worriedly. "Look at me. You didn't get any damage because of Sei-sama, did you?"

"Hey!" came Sei's scandalised voice. Sachiko ignored her; she shouldn't complain, she had already touched Yumi in such an intimate way.

"I-I'm fine, Sachiko-sama, really," Yumi answered rather huskily; she was still recovering from her laughter. That innocent, husky voice however had a gigantic effect on Sachiko: she felt her throat go very dry, while her hands became clammy (amongst other things) and her heart began to race with an amazing speed of thousand miles per second. Oh my god. Yumi sounded so sexy.

That was it. Their relationship had to develop further, and fast. Sachiko had been friendly with Yumi for more than a week now, and she felt that they had really become friends. Yumi was just such a lovable girl; it was difficult not to like her. She was so innocent, so sweet and so kind-hearted, not to mention bloody gorgious. Her feelings for Yumi had developed from desire to desire and affection and… and love? Sachiko blinked her eyes a few times as she realized this. She had really fallen in love with this girl so fast? Apparently she had, as she had felt like she could kill Sei on the spot for touching her sweet, little Yumi like that. Youko's whip would have come in handy now.

"Sachiko-sama, are you alright?" Yumi asked worriedly. She thought the older girl looked like she had swallowed an entire coconut, with straws in it.

Sachiko hadn't heard Yumi; she was still too preoccupied with her thoughts. Okay. She had reached friendship (having been able to fulfil her first goal of touching Yumi so often as she could), but she had to deepen that friendship at any cost, and fast. It was the only way their relationship could develop the way she wanted. Damn it, why couldn't she just grab Yumi and kiss her until the girl was a sloppy pile on the floor? Well, Yumi's parents would probably not like the idea of having their daughter in such a state.

"Sachiko-sama?" Yumi tried again. Now Sachiko was looking like she had swallowed two entire coconuts, with straws in them. Even Sei had gone from don't-slap-me-you-biatch-looking to watching the girl concernedly.

Having made up her mind, Sachiko brusquely turned to the object of her affection.

"Yumi." she said abruptly, her gaze fully on the girl.

"Y-Yes?" Yumi answered, taken aback by the 180° mood switch and Sachiko's smouldering eyes.

"Would you like to go on a date with me this weekend?"

After a few moments of staring at Sachiko incredulously, Yumi finally managed to croak out a word.

"Eh??"

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**A/N: Meh, the laptop is gone for one month, meaning we only have 1 computer at home for 4 family members. Sigh. But I'll update as soon as I can. By the way: if you like/hate this story, think it's funny/unfunny, do let me know. Every review helps!  
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	3. The date

I probably should've mentioned this at the beginning of the first chapter, but this fic shouldn't be taken too seriously, really…

I'm afraid next update will be in a couple of months, when school and exams are over. Lessons have started again, so I'm quite busy...

As always, thanks a million to all the reviewers.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maria-sama ga miteru nor any of the existing… stuff mentioned in this chapter.**

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III. The date

"That's what she really said to you?"

"One hundred percent sure. She almost strangled me with her voice, that's how scary she sounded."

Youko and Sei were at Youko's house drinking a cup of coffee. They had enjoyed themselves in Youko's room first, playing all sorts of naughty games, like Mario Kart Double Dash and Pokémon Colosseum. Exhausted by it, they had gone down for a cup of coffee. Sei had then mentioned what Sachiko had hissed to her the other day.

"My. No wonder, to be honest. Have you seen the way Sachiko sometimes behaves around Yumi-chan?" Youko said before taking a sip from her coffee.

"Ah, I see what you mean," Sei said, nodding her head. "It seems Sachiko is very touchy around Yumi-chan… She almost behaves like me. So what are we going to do about her? Apparently she has some dirty thoughts about cute, innocent Yumi-chan. And she has invited her on a date this weekend."

Youko stared at her cup. From the very beginning she had questioned Sachiko's motives for inviting Yumi to the Rose Mansion. Now she knew, and now she finally understood what her petite soeur thought every time she looked at Yumi whenever the girl thought no-one was paying attention to her. She had honestly thought that Sachiko had some serious gas problems, but with all the new revelations it was pretty clear now that Sachiko's looking at Yumi in reality screamed 'Oh God, I want to have you on the table of the meeting room right now'. Who could have ever imagined Sachiko thinking that way?

"Youko?" Sei asked when the girl didn't respond to her question. To get her attention, the Rose grabbed Youko's nose only to get a hyper-fast punch against her left eye, making the girl tumble backwards off her chair.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Sei cried after she stumbled on her feet again, tears coming out of her left eye.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry, it's a reflex," Youko explained apologetically. "Every time someone grabs my nose, my right arm does a punch-movement. I've lost count of how many people I've given uppercuts that way."

"What?! What kind of reflex is that?!" Sei stared at the other girl incredulously. The area around her eye began to swell at immense speed and tears were still coming out of it.

"I know it's weird. Apparently something went wrong when I was a foetus, but never mind that. Let's talk about Sachiko. I don't think there's any need for us to interfere in her business. Sachiko has become much more open, not to mention more handleable since she has met Yumi-chan… I'm glad that all of this has a positive effect on her."

"Yes, I see your point," Sei agreed. "Now if you'll excuse me for a moment…" She quickly went to the kitchen to put some ice on her eye.

_**Saturday, the day of the date…**_

It was a lovely fall day. The leaves were falling from the trees, swirling gently in the air before touching the ground. The sun was trying its best to warm the earth for as long as possible. Birds were singing their most beautiful songs, while sitting on the branches of old yet strong trees.

Inside the house of Fukuzawa however, nothing was noticed of this lovely scene. Yumi's parents were out, Yuuki was downstairs watching 'Sex and the City' and Yumi was in her room, pacing back and forth absent-mindedly. It was Saturday today, and she had agreed on a date with Sachiko. Yumi was a tad nervous; she had heard Sachiko emphasizing that this was merely a date between friends, but she couldn't ignore Yoshino's words that were swirling in her head. As she was having these thoughts, Yuuki entered her room.

"Oi, Yumi. What are you doing? You look weird, and what's up with the nervousness? You're only going on a date with Sachiko-san, right?"

Yumi stopped pacing back and forth and turned her attention to her little baby brother. "Yuuki…" The girl began nervously. "What would you say if I told you that the members of the student council of my school are actually a lot more than first meets the eye?"

Yuuki shrugged his shoulders and sat himself on his sister's bed. "Then I'd say that they're the same as the members of the student council of my school. Our student body president, Kashiwagi Suguru, is really a strange guy. He keeps following me, screaming 'I'm not engaged anymore, I'm a free man now'. And did you know he actually wears a bra underneath his uniform?"

"Eh? How do you know that?"

"Well, he likes to brag about it to everyone…"

"Oh okay, but… You see, Yoshino-san told me that, eh, her relationship with Rei-sama is more intimate than it seems… And that almost every soeur-relationship is like that, if you know what I mean…" Yumi stared at her brother with her large, brown eyes, trying to teleport the information to him. A grin appeared on Yuuki's face.

"Really, Yumi? Oh my god, that's so hot! Hey, can I visit your school one day?"

"Yuuki…" Yumi seemed really upset. "Don't you see what it means? What if Sachiko-sama wanted me to become her petite soeur just so we could have _that_ kind of relationship? Sei-sama said that not all soeur-relationships are like that… But I still can't put Yoshino-san's words out of my mind."

Yuuki sighed. Sometimes his sister could really be so out of this world. The last time he thought that was that time she had eaten grass, just because he had made her believe that eating grass could give you bigger boobs.

"Listen, Yumi, I think you're being a bit paranoïd now. You told me that Yoshino-san's onee-sama is her cousin, right? And you also told me that they've known each other for their entire lives, whereas Sachiko-san knows you for about two weeks now. So relax. I really don't think Sachiko-san offered you her rosary because she wanted you to become her lover or something."

Yumi's face considerably lit up as she realised that her brother's words made perfect sense. Yoshino and Rei had fallen in love with each other because they knew each other through and through, while she and Sachiko only met two weeks ago.

"Yuuki," Yumi said happily, "thank you for cheering me up. I guess you're right. Sachiko-sama would never see me that way, I'm just being paranoïd."

Yuuki nodded his head vehemently. "Of course I'm right, don't worry about it. And if there's that small chance that I'm not right, what's the big deal? I mean, you told me you like her and that she's very beautiful, so you should be happy if someone as beautiful as her wants you," Yuuki said jokingly.

"Yuuki, that's not funny…"

The bel rang, making the Fukuzawa siblings jump up in surprise. "Oh, that must be Sachiko-sama already," Yumi said, feeling excited now. Yuuki had convinced her; no way Rosa Chinensis en bouton could have some hidden intentions. She would have fun on this date because she really enjoyed being with Sachiko, and no weird theory of Yoshino would ruin that.

"Yumi," Yuuki said when the girl was about to leave her room to open the front door. "What was it you were going to do on your date?" The girl turned around. "Didn't I tell you? We are going on a picnic. See you later!" Yumi quickly grabbed her purse and coat and went downstairs.

"Good morning, Sachiko-sama," she said when she opened the door.

"Good morning, Yumi," the older girl greeted calmly when in fact she felt like she had sniffed some crack: in high spirits and extremely blessed because Yumi had agreed on this date with her.

Yumi stared at Sachiko; the girl was wearing a splendid blue dress and matching blue shoes. She thought the girl looked gorgeous in those clothes. "Shall we get going then?" Sachiko said. She was aware of Yumi looking at her and it made her think of very improper things in addition to her usual reaction, because this was the first time she saw the girl in something else than her school uniform, namely a cute white dress. Those yoga exercises she did every morning clearly didn't help.

"Yes, but, ehm, Sachiko-sama? Where are we going to have the picnic?" Yumi asked curiously.

"Well, I hope you don't mind, but everything is already set up in the private park behind my house. I don't really care for crowds, you know," Sachiko answered.

"Oh, no problem at all." Little did the girl knew that Sachiko in fact just wanted to be alone with Yumi in a perimeter of 12 square kilometres, for all the very wrong reasons.

Sachiko lead Yumi to an impressive car; the high yeah-I'm-filthy-rich factor of it made the younger girl feel a bit dizzy. She had never even been near a car this fabulous, and now she would be sitting in one.

"What's the matter, Yumi?" Sachiko asked when she saw the girl's face contort in a weird raccoon-like form.

"N-Nothing, Sachiko-sama. I've never seen a car this grand before, that's all."

Sachiko smiled; Yumi was so endearing in her lack of wordly experiences. Who had ever thought she could fall in love with such a girl? By now, Sachiko had already realised that it weren't the pigtails that made the difference; it was Yumi's freshness. Not fresh in the sense of an ice cream on a hot summer day – although Sachiko did want to lick Yumi as if she was an ice cream – but fresh meaning she was so different than the other people Sachiko had met before.

"Well, let's enjoy this ride as much as we can then, alright?"

_**A while later, in the park behind the Ogasawara Mansion…**_

"Oh! It's so big!" Yumi said enthousiastically. "And it's really a private park, you say?"

Sachiko nodded, pleased that this garden could bring Yumi so much happiness. "I'm glad you like it, Yumi." She pointed at a small golf car. "I will drive us to where everything is set up now. If you would please enter the car?"

Who would have guessed that with a small golf car one could actually drive like Michael Schumacher in his glory days? Or, more specifically, like a drunken Michael Schumacher?

Sachiko somehow managed to speed up the vehicle at an surreal speed of nearly two hundred miles per hour, while Yumi was clinging herself to the car so she wouldn't fall out and _die_ on the spot. Because combining Sachiko's awful driving skills with a totally wacked up golf car could only bring an almost certain ride to death. Obviously the almost-to-be-Red-Rose was completely unaware of the fact that she drove like a pregnant giraffe on xtc as she asked "What's the matter, Yumi?" when she saw the girl's face turning yellow, purple and green all at the same time. The only sound coming out of Yumi's mouth however was "Fumoffu!" as she was even too scared to breathe, therefore experiencing the hardships of having too little air. (Still she had managed to say 'Fumoffu' for some reason...) At last, after avoiding hitting about five hundred and forty-seven trees, birds and breakdancing mime players on their bumpy ride, they arrived at a small pond.

"We're here, Yumi," Sachiko said gently as she thought the girl had fallen asleep, with her eyes being closed. Yumi didn't react; she was actually keeping herself from vomitting out her entire guts, so opening her mouth wasn't too clever at a time like this.

"Yumi?"

Well, if the girl was fast asleep, she wouldn't notice it if someone just took a little peek at what was underneath that skirt, right..?

"Sachiko-sama," Yumi finally muttered as she opened her eyes, making Sachiko retract her hand quickly and curse inwardly, "how is it possible that a small golf car can drive at the speed of sound?" She had decided not to tell Sachiko about her poor driving skills, which was quite the understatement; Yumi had lost count of the times she had chanted 'Maria-sama no Kokoro' in her head so the Virgin Mary would spare her life.

"Ah, that's really not of much importance," the older girl answered a bit uncomfortable, not too keen on revealing that the golf car had been modified in Japan's version of MTV's 'pimp-my-ride'. Seriously, what would people think of her when they found out she watched MTV?

After Yumi had composed herself a little, Sachiko lead the girl to a basket near the small pond. The surroundings were beautiful: sakura trees were forming a line near the edge of the pond, while sunshine was filtering through the petals so a pattern of flickering lights was formed on the water. The grass was greener than Greenpeace and the water bluer than something blue. There was no living soul to be seen in a mile.

"Oh, it's so beautiful here!" Yumi exclaimed, forgetting about the weird ride immediately.

"Yes, and it's quite calm, so we won't be disturbed. I'm sure we can enjoy the picnic at its fullest here."

Sachiko was sure that she at least would enjoy the picnic at its fullest, finally having Yumi all to herself. It was the perfect opportunity for them to get to know each other much better. It was also the perfect opportunity for Sachiko to (she couldn't believe she was actually going to do it) seduce the other girl bit by bit. She had never done it before, but like they say: there's a first time for everything, right? And Sachiko really, really wanted her relationship with Yumi to develop much further. _Much_ further.

While Yumi was still amazed by the wonderfulness of the place, Sachiko had already started unpacking everything out of the basket. As expected, it was all quality food, like fatty tuna, quality bread and rice, sushi, all kinds of fruit and vegetable and Kentucky Fried Chicken. She also unpacked a bottle of chocolate sauce, strawberries and whipping cream. Finally, after sniffing in the fresh air, Yumi turned her attention to the stack of delicious food waiting for her.

"Sachiko-sama, it all looks so wonderful!" She said, amazed by the amount of yummy food. Sachiko smiled and motioned Yumi to sit down next to her. "Shall we eat, then?"

They had a wonderful time eating and talking; Yumi was impressed by Sachiko's ability to eat as much food as a one hundred and fifty pounds weighing trucker, and Sachiko was just impressed by Yumi. Somehow they managed to eat everything – with big help from Sachiko – and only dessert was left.

"Yumi, I like to eat my strawberries with whipped cream. Would you like to eat your strawberries like that as well?" Sachiko asked. She knew perfectly well that it was a rather sexy thing to do, and she hoped Yumi would feel the same way if she saw her eating. It was merely an extra – a very pleasant and sexy extra, that is – if Yumi would dip her strawberries in whipping cream too.

"Sachiko-sama? Shall we take a stroll around the pond first before we eat dessert?" Yumi asked, her eyes glistening. The look of disappointment barely managed to stay off Sachiko's face as she agreed with Yumi's walk. They found themselves walking next to the shore in silence. Sachiko was enjoying the quiet walk and was soon transported back to her little world of very suggestive fantasies. This time however, the dreams came to an end very abruptly. She heard a splash and it didn't take too long to figure out what had happened.

"Yumi?"

Everything in Sachiko's mind went blank when she saw Yumi's pretty much lifeless body floating in the water. Being the heroic person that she is, Sachiko dived into the pond immediately to drag the girl out of the water. Only, she was wearing a rather tight dress and had difficulties herself to swim properly. Still she managed to pull Yumi to the shore and laid the girl carefully on the grass. They were both soaking wet, making their clothes stick to their bodies, thus making their curves very visible; but that didn't even reach Sachiko's mind as she was worrying about the other girl, who was moving now and coughing and gasping.

"Yumi! Are you alright?" Sachiko's heart was beating madly in her chest; the sight of Yumi's motionless body in the water had nearly made her choke of fear.

"S-Sachiko-sama," Yumi coughed with great difficulty. "I'm fine… I'm s-so sorry, I d-don't know what happened…"

"Don't be sorry," Sachiko interrupted. "I'm so glad you're okay. We first have to take you back to the mansion quickly, you're soaking wet…"

It finally hit Sachiko that Yumi was _indeed_ soaking wet. Everything from her cute little nose to her cute little feet dripped water. Well, who cared about Yumi's nose and Yumi's feet when the girl's entire upper body was there to be seen by the rest of the world (which was, at this particular moment, only Sachiko)? It was obvious that this was the most arousing thing Sachiko had ever seen in her life.

"Eeeeh??" The girl let out very unintelligently with her mouth hanging open.

"Sachiko-sama?" Yumi was finally able to speak without coughing again. She watched the odd look on the other girl's face with concern.

"Yes! Eh… Yumi! Let's go back, we should go back _right_ now," Sachiko very uncharacteristically blurted out. She got up when Yumi started coughing again, and this time very rough. "Are you sure you're alright, Yumi?" Sachiko asked worriedly when the coughs were getting more raspy; Yumi's entire body twitched with every harsh sound coming out of her mouth. Her eyes grew big as her head grew redder; she managed to whisper "Sachiko-sama?" before passing out.

_**x time later…**_

Yumi slowly opened her eyes. She had no idea where she was or what had happened. The only thing she could make out now was that she was lying in a comfy bed and that at the end of it Sachiko was sitting on a chair.

"Yumi!" Sachiko hurriedly stood up, walked to the other girl and grabbed her hand. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, I-I'm feeling fine, thank you… Where are we, Sachiko-sama?" Yumi asked. She looked around; the room was painted white, there were some cupboards and chairs and there was a high window left from her; although the curtains were drawn, you could see it was dark outside.

"You're at the hospital. Oh Yumi…" Sachiko squeezed Yumi's hand and looked at her with misty eyes. "Why didn't you tell me you were allergic to Kentucky Fried Chicken? You're here because you fainted… But then your body started to grow redder and redder and I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't gotten you here in time!" Sachiko's eyes were tear-filled now, and she looked very upset.

"Sachiko-sama," Yumi whispered. Seeing Sachiko so vulnerable made her heart cry for some reason. "Please don't cry, it's not your fault or anything! I didn't know I was allergic to Kentucky Fried Chicken, I've never eaten it before. So how could you have possibly known?"

Sachiko shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, but then the doctor entered the room.

"Ah, miss Fukuzawa. You're awake and healthy I see?"

The doctor, a short and broad man with hardly any hair on his head left, strode to her bed firmly holding a clipboard. After checking everything that needed to be checked on Yumi, he explained that she was allergic to an ingrediënt they apparently used to flavour the famous chicken.

"It's actually pretty common," the doctor explained. "There are a lot of cases known of people who are allergic to this ingrediënt, so when miss Ogasawara brought you here a few hours ago, we could help you pretty quickly. Yet another Kentucky-Fried-Chicken-victim," he sighed, shaking his head wearily. "Luckily it hadn't been too long since you had eaten it, miss Fukuzawa. If you had been brought here a few hours later, there might have been some more serious consequences for your health. But everything is okay now; you'll just have to stay here for the night, and you can go home next thing tomorrow morning. I'll do a check up on you again later. I think the nurse will come in a few minutes to give you some medicin. Don't worry," he added when he saw Sachiko's lip tremble, "it's merely a precaution." The man gave Yumi a smile before leaving the room.

"Thank God nothing's wrong," Sachiko heaved and sat herself on Yumi's bed. "I was so scared when you fell into the pond… I think you must have fainted, Yumi. But then you fainted again…" Sachiko swallowed and lowered her head a little. She couldn't express the fear she had felt while bringing the girl to the hospital. Yumi could only stare at her. Finally Sachiko composed herself and smiled.

"I have called your parents, Yumi, but they couldn't come immediately. But I think they'll be here any moment now, it's been a few hours."

"Sachiko-sama, you've been waiting here all the time?" Yumi asked quietly.

"Of course!" Sachiko covered Yumi's small hand with her own hands and looked the girl straight in the eyes, concern written all over her gorgeous face. "I could never leave you like that, Yumi, please know that."

At that moment, Yumi's parents dashed into the room in full panic, breaking the lovely atmosphere. Sachiko got off the bed while still holding Yumi's hand.

"I'll leave you in the good care of your parents now. I'll call you tomorrow to see if everything is alright, okay? Please have some rest, Yumi."

Without thinking, Sachiko placed a soft kiss on Yumi's hand before letting go. She politely greeted Yumi's parents, explained in short what had happened and then walked away without turning her head.

Yumi's parents were hugging and kissing their precious daughter as they were worrying about her. Yumi, however, didn't notice much of the commotion; the small peck Sachiko had given her hand left her in deep thought for the rest of the evening.

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**A/N: I like KFC (too bad the KFC-restaurant closest to my house is in another country, lol) and this story is pure fiction, so if there happened to be a KFC-employee reading this fic, please don't sue me, thank you. Reviews are always most welcome.**


	4. Revelations

Notes:

Ohoho, one last update before I lock myself in my room with piles and piles of books. I'm really too kind. :) Well, honesty obliges me to say that I find writing during the late evening rather relaxing (if it's on the laptop), especially when it's warm outside.

To the dear readers who take the time to leave a review: you guys rock, seriously. But you probably already knew that.

**Disclaimer: I am not Konno Oyuki, therefore I do not own Maria-sama ga miteru. **

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IV. Revelations

Sachiko was walking around the premises of Lillian Girls' private school. It was still early in the morning and there was no-one to be seen, but she had to bring back some books to the library. The sun was shining rather hard for a fall day, and the girl did not cope with the heat that well. Reaching the statue of the Virgin Mary, she stopped to say her prayer (make Yumi mine as soon as possible), but then a movement caught her attention. Turning her head, she realized there was a chicken scratching behind a bush. Sachiko's mouth fell slightly open; what in Maria's name was a chicken doing here at school? Before the girl could even begin to question her own sanity, she heard clucking. A lot of clucking. Sachiko now turned her entire body around and was faced with chickens as far as the eye could see.

"What the..."

From behind her, she heard a voice calling out to her.

"Gokigenyou," Yumi greeted when she came standing next to the older girl. "I thought there would be no-one else here, since it is so early in the morning."

"Yumi..." Sachiko whispered with a trembling voice, not even feeling the urge to strip Yumi from all of her clothes, "are you not surprised by all the chickens you see before you?"

Somehow more chickens had joined the already gigantic group of birds. They were just standing there, making clucking sounds, yet something in their eyes made Sachiko grow increasingly nervous. But the main reason for her anxiety was of course the fact that there were chickens in a place where there normally would not be any.

"Chickens? Sachiko-sama... What are you talking about? What chickens?" Yumi was slightly worried about her friend. If Sachiko became insane right here on the spot, what would she have to do? Cell phones did not exist in this era, she had not seen one nun since arriving here and Sachiko was way too heavy to carry to the main gate all by herself.

"Yumi, look at the chickens! Can you not see the chi-" Sachiko failed to finish her sentence, as the ground trembled beneath their feet. Seconds later she could see the dark shape of a giant chicken, standing only metres away from them behind some trees. The trees were big, but the monstrous bird was even bigger, as its head popped up about three metres above the crowns of the trees. Out of the blue, it screamed "Pok!" and with its feathery wing pointed at the two girls, of which one of them was staring at it with her eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

"Yumi, _please_ tell me you see that enormous beast standing there!"

Panic swept through Sachiko as Hikaru Genji through a stack of young maidens. The girl did not wait for an answer however, as the giant chicken somehow said "Catch those two girls, and bring them to me!" in a human voice. Sachiko let out a high-pitched scream, grabbed Yumi's hand and darted to the main building of the school, forgetting about Lillian's most important rule: walk slowly. Considering the situation, Sachiko was pretty sure the nuns wouldn't mind if she just ignored the rule as it might save their lives; it was not every day that one was being chased by murderous chickens. Yumi had no choice but to run along, still she had no idea what was going on; had Sachiko just asked her if she saw an enormous beast?

"Sachiko-sama, are you feeling alright..?" she gasped with much difficulty, feeling the air being pushed out of her lungs as they were running seemingly meaninglessly across the grounds of Lillian. Sachiko let out another scream when the ground trembled beneath their feet again; over her shoulder she saw millions and millions of chickens with sharp beaks chasing them.

"Maria-sama, what have I done to deserve this?!" Sachiko cried out in fear before speeding up, still dragging Yumi along with her. If they could just reach the library, they could hide behind a pile of books and defend themselves. Wasn't it common knowledge that chickens hated literature? The girls had almost reached the entrance of the building, when a huge chicken foot blocked their way.

"There's no escaping me! I will enjoy this meal, as _Kentucky Fried Human!_" The giant chicken roared with a thunderous voice. Behind them a bazillion chickens, in front of them one heck of a scary monster chicken with a big appetite; Sachiko was sweating like a horse in a sauna; this was definitely the end. Never in her life could she have imagined that a giant chicken would bring an end to her. The only positive thing about the whole situation was that Yumi was with her, but the girl merely stared at Sachiko with confused, worried and frightened eyes. She was thinking that the Rose had indeed gone mad.

"Yumi," Sachiko murmured hastily, "before I die, there's one thing I would like to do..." She lowered her head to capture Yumi's lips for a dazzling kiss...

Sachiko woke up with a start, totally disorientated. As the adrenaline slowly ebbed away, her senses came back to her; she was sitting in her classroom, so it had just been a dream..?

"Finally, you're awake," came a voice from behind her. Sachiko turned her head; Rei was standing there with a handkerchief in her hands.

"Rei...?" Sachiko was still shaken and clammy from her nightmare. Rei smiled, sat herself on a chair and offered the handkerchief to Sachiko.

"Not very tidy is it, when you go to the Rose Mansion all covered in sweat," she remarked. Sachiko smiled weakly, accepted the hanky and wiped off the sweat from her forehead.

"I had never expected you to fall asleep during class," Rei said, the smile still dancing on her lips. "It was weird how the teacher and the other classmates didn't wake you up." Rei herself had also not woken Sachiko up, but that was because she hadn't been looking forward to dealing with Sachiko, the low blood pressure monster. As for the others: for her classmates it had been easier to stare at a sleeping Rosa Chinensis en bouton than an alive and kicking one, and who knows why the teacher hadn't said anything.

"I actually fell asleep during class?" was Sachiko's perplexed comment. Rei nodded. "Well, it was not that surprising to be honest. After all, we were seeing the history of corned beef. There's only a fairly small limit of what you can learn and find interesting about corned beef," she said. Then she furrowed her eyebrows. "Sachiko, what on earth were you dreaming about? Because after a while you started yelling 'Chickens' all the time, and you're all sweaty."

Sachiko didn't answer immediately, but wiped the last drops of sweat off her forehead. She folded the handkerchief neatly and gave it back to Rei. "Thank you for lending me your handkerchief. And about your question... I had a dream that involved chickens, though they were no normal chickens." Sachiko had muttered the last part barely comprehensible; she was not in the mood to tell what she had dreamed about. "I feel ridiculous for my behaviour, it was just a silly dream," the girl said with more force. But she was disappointed to have woken up just when things were getting a bit more interesting in a pleasant way; she had been only millimetres away from touching Yumi's soft-looking lips.

"Hmm, okay then," Rei said while standing up, startling Sachiko who had been thinking about a certain girl's lips, "but let's hurry to the Rose Mansion now, because we are already late for the meeting."

_**At the Rose Mansion...**_

"So everyone agrees with this idea?"

Rosa Foetida looked around. The other members of the Yamayurikai who were present nodded their head.

"Good. Then we will propose this to the headmistress." Eriko looked quite pleased with herself. She was about to say something again, when the door of the meeting room opened quite forcefully and Rosa Foetida en bouton as well as Rosa Chinensis en bouton entered the room, looking a bit flustered. Both girls bowed their head and apologized for their coming late.

"Sachiko, what's this?" Youko said, feeling more curious than irritated because of her soeur's lateness. "It's not your habit to come late. Or did you forget we had a meeting today?"

Sachiko forced herself to produce a serene smile and apologized again. "I had fallen asleep, and Rei is late because she had been waiting for me. I'm sorry for the trouble I might have caused."

Satou Sei grinned but motioned the two boutons to sit down. "It doesn't matter," she said with twinkling eyes. "I guess even Sachiko needs sleep after all. Or maybe you just had a tiring weekend?"

There was something in Sei's tone that was very suggestive and Sachiko didn't like it at all. As she carefully seated herself on the chair opposite of Shimako, she could sense Sei's eyes watching her as well as her onee-sama's.

"My weekend had nothing to do with this, if you really wish to know. I hope this answer is enough to satisfy your curiosity," Sachiko answered coolly, but not entirely truthfully; her rather disastrous date with Yumi had been, without a doubt, the reason for having this bizarre dream involving chickens. Rei, however, who was seated next to Sachiko, shifted her feet uncomfortably; _her_ weekend had been tiring indeed, with Yoshino coming over every night. It was quite the miracle that she had been able to stay awake during class, even more when it became clear that they were going to discuss corned beef.

"It doesn't matter," Youko quickly said while giving Sei a look that totally screamed 'watch it...'

"The meeting is almost over already. We have agreed on this event that will hopefully take place in a few weeks. Eriko, Sei and I will go to the headmistress' office tomorrow to propose our idea to her."

"What event are you talking about, onee-sama?" Sachiko asked. If she recalled correctly, there weren't any events planned for the rest of fall.

"Oh, it's something new," the Red Rose answered, a little smirk visible on her face. "We thought it would be fun if a fancy dress party was organised here at Lillian. Actually, it was Eriko's idea."

Rei and Sachiko turned their head to Eriko, who was nodding her head calmly.

"Onee-sama? How did you come up with the idea of a fancy dress party all of a sudden?" Rei asked.

"I know we third-years have a lot on our mind right now, with almost being graduated etc.," Eriko explained, a bored expression on her face, "but I thought it would be interesting for us to have one more evening where we can just enjoy ourselves. With the sports and school festival being over now, there are no more events to look forward to. That's really boring." Then her face lit up and the corners of her mouth curled upwards. "Yes, we will be busy with organizing this fancy dress party, but I'm sure it'll be interesting," she continued fiercely now, "not only for us, but also for the rest of the school."

"Is this why you proposed this idea then? So you would feel less bored?" Rei asked.

"Basically, yes," Eriko answered, "but the main reason for proposing this fancy dress party, is that I met this really cute girl from 2nd year Cherry Class, and I would like to ask her to come with me to the party."

Deafening silence followed upon this revelation, until Rei finally opened her mouth.

"Onee-sama... I don't know, but weren't you supposed to like men?" The other members of the student council nodded their head vigorously in agreement.

"Oh no, that's really quite a misunderstanding," Eriko said, looking amused. "What made you think I like the opposite sex? Really, I'm just as gay as any other person in this room."

A short period of silence, in which everyone except Sei shifted their feet uncomfortably, ensued once again, until-

"But I'm not-"

Shimako's objection was interrupted by Eriko, who let out a pretty unladylike snort.

"Oh, don't worry," the Rose said after she had composed herself. "You'll eventually become like that, just like everyone else at this school. Really, Lillian is no more than one massive lesbo-production centre, where occasionally lessons are being given too."

While everyone was dumbstruck and trying to fully understand the meaning of Eriko's words, she continued her speech.

"Maybe it's because of the fact that there are hundreds and hundreds of young girls crammed into this one school. ... Or maybe it's because of the soeur system, which is quite an unique tradition in this country. If you watch them properly, many of those soeur relationships are filled with sexual tension all the way. Just look at Rei and Yoshino-chan, and you have proof enough. You just wait until you find a petite soeur of your own, Shimako."

Shimako, who was sincerely surprised by Eriko's words because she honestly could not see herself making out with another girl (but then again, she was only to meet Noriko the next year), opened her mouth to question the girl's theory but was cut off once again, this time by Youko, who cleared her throat rather loudly.

"Thank you, Eriko, but we should really not talk about irrelevant things right now," she said to the Yellow Rose, the red colour on her cheeks barely noticeable. "Anyway, this meeting is over. I'd suggest we all go home now. Except for you, Sachiko," she added when her petite soeur got up from her chair. "I would like to talk to you for a moment."

After the usual "Gokigenyou's" everyone except for the members or the Red Rose family left the room. There hung an atmosphere in the room now, which Sachiko could not completely comprehend; she only knew she felt like someone being interrogated by the police for a crime he did not commit. But why was she feeling that way? Her onee-sama merely wanted to talk to her in private, right?

Sachiko almost jumped when Youko put down a cup of tea in front of her.

"Relax, Sachiko. I can feel you're all tensed up now. Don't worry, nothing is going to happen, I won't bite. Can't I have a talk with my adorable petite soeur?"

Youko smiled sweetly and seated herself next to her petite soeur, with an own cup of tea in her hand. A mischievous glint, not detectable for the common man, but certainly noticeable for the trained eye (and Sachiko's eye was definitely trained), was present in Youko's eyes. The girl took a sip from her tea, and began the conversation innocently.

"How was your day?"

"It was fine, thank you."

Silence. The tension Sachiko had felt from the instant they were alone, only increased in power now. An image of her onee-sama bringing out handcuffs and using them on her, was floating in Sachiko's mind before Youko spoke again.

"Still planning on making Yumi-chan your petite soeur?"

"Yes, of course."

"I see."

This was definitely leading somewhere; why had her onee-sama started talking about Yumi all of a sudden? Sachiko was not afraid of Youko, she loved her very much; but the girl's aura at the moment was driving her mad. It was certainly not of Sachiko's habit to lose her tranquillity, but something about the whole situation made her feel uneasy. Maybe Youko had put something in her tea..? But she hadn't taken a sip from it yet, so that couldn't have been it.

"How was your weekend?"

"... Rather interesting."

"Ah? Does that mean you have seen Yumi-chan naked then?"

There you had it.

"Excuse me? Onee-sama," Sachiko said with as much dignity as she could put in a voice that trembled of agitation, "I'm sorry to say this, but do you even realize what you've just said? Now, could I ask of you to kindly stop beating around the bush and tell me what you wanted to tell me?"

Sachiko's facial expression was a mixture of many emotions, going from anxiety to cold anger; her onee-sama's words had shocked her so much, that her face just could not be still at the moment. And hearing the words 'Yumi' and 'naked' in one sentence was also not the best remedy for keeping a calm composure. If Sachiko hadn't been so dismayed, her mind had surely been in overdrive now, making up scenes including Yumi that are just not fit to be described in a story that is rated 'T'.

Youko, however, simply wore a satisfied expression, and she was smiling. She had told Sei that -they- shouldn't involve themselves in Sachiko's affairs, but that didn't mean that -she- could not meddle in her petite soeur's life. After all, she was Sachiko's onee-sama. An evil onee-sama, it seemed, as teasing the girl a bit before getting to the point was something Youko just could not resist. But she had made Sachiko agitated now, and that was enough. Youko suddenly became serious.

"Sachiko, I know of your desire to make Yumi-chan your petite soeur, you have made yourself clear that day we first met her. However, it seems there is more to your actions than you want to share with me?"

Sachiko stared at her onee-sama, who was staring at her in return, a knowing smile on her face. Of course, Youko was her onee-sama, she knew everything.

"So you know of my feelings?" was the only thing that came out of Sachiko's mouth. She honestly did not mind that Youko knew of her feelings, as long as the girl did not know what she wanted to do to Yumi as soon as they became soeurs. That was definitely private.

"I know of your true intentions, yes. Is that the reason why you want to make Yumi-chan your petite soeur, so you could 'play' with her?"

"Onee-sama!"

Rather than being shocked about Youko's use of words, Sachiko felt uncomfortable with the fact that the older girl was closer to the truth than she had expected her to be. If more people knew of the lustful Sachiko that existed within the ladylike Sachiko, things weren't looking too fabulous for her. What if it became a known fact at school? Then all those fangirls would try and awaken that side of her, God knows by doing what. Sachiko was really not looking forward to that; Yumi was the only person who was allowed to experience what ever she might do because of her increasing inability to hold down her desire.

"Ah, so it is true, okay then. I know enough," Youko said content. Her petite soeur, feeling tired all of a sudden, slumped slightly before finally taking a sip of her tea. It tasted revolting.

"Tell me of your date with Yumi-chan," the older girl continued. Sachiko put away her cup and without further ado began telling about her date. The power Youko had over her was definitely great.

"Is that why I haven't seen Yumi-chan today? Because she's still too ill to come to school?" Youko asked after Sachiko had finished her story.

"There is no other explanation," Sachiko answered. "So I had planned on visiting her after our meeting with the Yamayurikai was over." She gave her onee-sama a look that meant 'Now please let me go, so I can visit a weak and probably defenceless Yumi'.

"Ah, of course," Youko said when she saw the terrifying look on her petite soeur's face. "Then go ahead, Sachiko. But I'm glad we had this conversation."

Sachiko nodded stifly, said "Gokigenyou" and left the room.

_**Chez les Fukuzawa's...**_

"Yumi-chan, you have a visitor..."

After those words, Ogasawara Sachiko, the current Rosa Chinensis en bouton, the most wanted person of Lillian Jogakuen, entered Yumi's room. Yumi, who had been in bed reading a book, looked up in surprise before saying "Gokigenyou" politely.

"I'll leave you two alone then," Miki, Yumi's mother, said before leaving the room and closing the door quietly.

"Yumi, how are you feeling today?" Sachiko asked while walking towards Yumi's bed. Although she was visiting someone who did not feel well, Sachiko felt thrilled that she was in Yumi's bedroom at the moment. Everything in here smelled like Yumi, and it was a scent that was _very_ arousing. Plus, a Yumi in her pyjamas was way too adorable. Sachiko scolded herself; this was really not the proper moment to be feeling horny.

"I'm actually feeling fine now, thank you" Yumi answered, closing her book. "I had been feeling a bit weak this morning, but it's over now. Of course, Mom wants me to stay in bed just to be sure."

"Ah, I'm glad. So tomorrow you'll probably be healthy enough to go to school again, how wonderful," Sachiko said, happy that Yumi wouldn't stay away from school too long. Her presence was something Sachiko always looked forward to, when going to school.

"Thanks for visiting me, Sachiko-sama," Yumi said all of a sudden, a bit shyly. "You really shouldn't have-"

"But of course I should have," Sachiko cut in. "Before I forget," she continued, "I have brought this for you." She took out a small box of Chinese tea, seated herself on Yumi's bed and gave it to her. "If you drink a cup of this before you to go bed, you'll be able to sleep well. It's very healthy, and it's said that this tea gives you a pleasant feeling." Yumi smiled and coloured ever so slightly while saying "Thank you" all over again.

"It's nothing. I'm happy that you're feeling fine again, Yumi," Sachiko said before standing up. "I'm sorry, but I have to be home before dinner, so I have to go already."

"Eh?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Take care and I'll see you tomorrow. Don't forget to drink that tea." Sachiko gave the other girl one last seductive smile before exiting the room, wiggling her bum while doing so. Or had that just been Yumi's imagination? (But why had she been staring at Sachiko's rear end in the first place?!) A short conversation between Miki and Sachiko could be heard in Yumi's room before it was quiet again. The visitor had left the building, and Yumi felt her body relax a bit. She had acted perfectly normal in front of Sachiko just now, but that didn't mean she had forgotten the last time they had parted. The tingling sensation caused by that slight brush of lips on her hand, and the confusion afterwards, hadn't given Yumi a good night's rest, quite the contrary. Lack of sleep when one needed it to recuperate, was definitely not salutary; hence being not fully recovered by the time it was Monday again.

Yumi sighed and opened her book to read a bit and ban the thoughts out of her head, but then Yuuki entered her room.

"So, that was Sachiko-san?" he said, placing himself on his sister's chair. Yumi nodded, and showed Yuuki what Sachiko had given her.

"Oh, looks fancy. Say, Yumi, Sachiko-san really is very beautiful, you know." The whole world had come to that conclusion already, and if Yuuki had not felt the same way, his sexuality would surely have been questioned. Yumi made a funny face while thinking that, but she kept her mouth and simply nodded.

"She seems like a very nice person, too. She came all the way here to give you tea? Looks like you're quite an important person to her." Hearing those words, Yumi was momentarily at loss. "Hey, Yumi," her brother continued, oblivious to the girl's slight change of mood, "why was it actually that you declined her rosary?"

Yumi opened and closed her mouth a few times before she could answer properly.

"Well, I did not know her at all, back then! And I had no intention of becoming anyone's petite soeur…" Yumi fell silent as she remembered why she would have declined anyone's rosary. She had not wanted to be bound to someone like that, and have such a close and intimate relationship with that person. It was odd, but that thought made Yumi feel unpleasant. However, wasn't she getting closer and closer to Sachiko now? Didn't she enjoy spending time with her? It certainly seemed like the beginning of a very intimate friendship.

Yuuki's voice made Yumi snap out of her thoughts. "So, you say 'back then' and 'had no intention'… Does that mean it's all in the past now? What are you going to do if she offers you her rosary again?" Yuuki had no idea what his words were doing to his sister.

"I…"

Yumi didn't know what to say. Because she honestly didn't know what she would do.

_**The following day…**_

"The headmistress rejected our idea. She said that 'we were not some kind of public school, organising events that could lead to giant orgies'. Those were her exact words. A nun can sure be harsh."

It was another meeting at the Bara No Yakata. The members of the Student Council were all present and they were listening to Youko.

"But, haven't you told her that only girls from this school are allowed?" Shimako asked.

"Yes, but she still wouldn't know of it-"

"And I think I know why," Eriko said, interrupting her friend. She stared at Shimako with a rather smug expression, but the other girl did not go in on the obvious provocation. After all, she was not Yoshino.

"Anyway," Youko continued, as if she hadn't been interrupted, "the fancy dress party will not take place. But I can also immediately tell you that another happening will occur. Minako-san, the editor-in-chief of the _Lillian Kawaraban_, said she 'accidentally' overheard our conversation with the headmistress. Hearing that our idea had been rejected, she offered to organise some other event. And with this one, we do not need the headmistress' approval."

The so-called event was basically no more than a treasure hunt. Youko explained that three cards, each with a colour from one of the Roses, would be hidden somewhere on the grounds of Lillian. Everyone could participate, and whoever found a card, would get a date with the bouton the colour of the card matched with. It would be a sort of Christmas Date, because that was what Christmas was all about: fulfilling your dream of having a date with the object of your obsessive admiration. Apparently.

"Too bad that I can't go on a date this way, but this will be interesting too," Eriko said. "We are telling you this so you can agree with Minako-san's idea yourselves."

As expected, Yoshino exploded and she found herself having a heated argument with the onee-sama of her sex toy – erhm, sweetheart. Sei simply told Shimako to participate and Sachiko also agreed, yet with great reluctance; she did not like the idea of any girl being able to go on a date with her. But Sachiko knew that they had no chance of defying the Roses' will, so it was useless to waste energy on arguing; busy with her own thoughts, the girl did not even notice how Yoshino practically crawled on top of Rei to protect her from Eriko's evil plans -- or molest her, what's the difference. There was always that chance of Yumi finding her card -- a chance that would certainly increase if she helped her out a bit -- and that prospect weighed much more than the prospect of having to date some unknown fangirl. Because a date (one that did not end with a freaky allergic outburst) where she could completely woo Yumi, was just the thing Sachiko needed.

* * *

**A/N: **

**A fancy dress party is nothing more than a costume party. But 'fancy dress party' sounded fancier, so I just used that word. :p Oh, and Hikaru Genji is the protagonist from 'The Tale of Genji', in case you were wondering.**

**I don't think Lillian Jogakuen is a massive lesbo-production centre. Those are Eriko's thoughts, not mine. Honestly!**

**Okay, something irrelevant to the story now, but my favourite character is Yoshino. She's fun and I really like her, even though she can be hotheaded sometimes and extremely possessive of Rei. (Or perhaps that's why I like her so much..?)**

**Thanks for reading! It would be even more awesome if you also left a review. :)**


	5. Lillian Jogakuen, a garden for maidens

I know it has been a while; exam period pretty much lasted for ages. I'm going away on a holiday, meaning the next update isn't planned for any time soon.

**Disclaimer: I ****own nothing that is owned by anyone else. (Doesn't that sound awfully logical?)**

* * *

V. Lillian Jogakuen, a garden for maidens

The school was in abuzz; everywhere, girls were standing in groups talking loudly and excitedly, ignoring the disapproving looks from the teachers. The reason for this commotion was an announcement in the latest issue of the Lillian Kawaraban: they would organise an event where one could win a half-date with a bouton. Well, it was not necessarily winning, as the event was simply an old-fashioned treasure hunt, only set in one of the most prestigious all-girls' schools in Japan this time, but that could only boost the girls' excitement: anyone could find a card; _anyone_ could go on that date.

Far away from all the ruckus, Yumi was sitting on a bench behind the Rose Mansion, delighted that it was not too cold even though it was already late Fall. It was lunchtime, and she had purposefully gone to a place where it was fairly quiet – the Rose Mansion, after all, still had that aura of a forbidden, holy palace – but she had no time to enjoy her bento-time as Yoshino had come along, and the girl was miffed.

"… And Rei-chan did not even object! How can she do that to me! After all the things we have done last weekend-"

Yumi raised her hand to silence Yoshino; she really did not want to know what the girl and her cousin had done. Yoshino grumpily kept her mouth and stuffed an _umeboshi _in her mouth, as to regain strength for a new outburst. Yumi took the advantage of that moment of peace to calm the girl down a bit.

"Yoshino-san, you can also participate, right? Since you know Rei-sama the best, you can anticipate where she'll hide that card, so your chances of winning that half-date with her are much greater than anyone else's, don't you think so?"

Yoshino shook her head while chewing on her food rather forcefully, as though she wanted to take out her irritation on the _tsukemono_ in her mouth.

"That's what's unfair too," the hot-headed girl said after literally destroying the harmless food in her mouth. "I have to start _ten_ minutes later, just because I'm Rei-chan's petite soeur! I know her the best, okay, but she can hide that card anywhere! How am I able to use my knowledge of her in such a situation? It's not like I can say, hey, Rei-chan really likes bondage, so I guess she has hidden her card in a book about bondage, now can I?"

The sound of a lone _onigiri_ falling on the ground was followed by a chuckle.

"Don't worry, Yumi-san." Yoshino looked a bit amused. "It's not very likely the library here has books on bondage."

"T-That's really not the point," Yumi mumbled weakly, unable to say anything else. Why did every moment alone with Yoshino inevitably ended in hearing things she simply did not want to know? (Oddly, it did not occur to Yumi to question why an innocent girl like herself actually knew what the word 'bondage' meant.)

"Hey, Yumi-san," said Yoshino when Yumi bent low to pick up the precious onigiri she had dropped, "are you going to participate in the event? Of course you will, right?"

"Hmm," the pig-tailed girl answered vaguely after putting the piece of food aside to throw away later. It was not really something she'd normally do, participating in events like that, but she felt a bit guilty for having ruined Sachiko's carefully prepared date by being allergic to something, even if it had been way beyond her control. Plus, Sachiko had come all the way to her home a few days ago to give her rather expensive tea. Yumi felt … a certain need … to make up to the older girl, and that half-date was the perfect opportunity. She felt no urge of sharing that information with Yoshino, however, as the martial arts'-lover would probably make some sort of comment on it – and having had the dubious privilege of getting to know the real and excessively frank Yoshino, Yumi was certain she did not want to know what the girl's thoughts on the subject were.

"Aren't you excited," Yoshino observed with a grin, but said nothing more. They continued eating in silence, but soon Yumi could feel small drops of water falling on her nose.

"Ah, Yoshino-san, it's raining! Let's go to the Rose Mansion and continue our lunch there." She began packing up her stuff.

"We can't go there," Yoshino said while closing her bento. "The Rosas, boutons and people of the Lillian Kawaraban are there having a meeting. Until the event, it's off limits for anyone other than them." Yoshino seemed a bit annoyed again. "Let's just go to the cafeteria."

As they hurriedly made their way to the cafeteria, Yumi thought about what Yoshino had said. Did that mean she couldn't see Sachiko until the event, which was to be held next week Friday? That thought made her feel strangely empty.

_**One week later…**_

"I'm delighted to hear you're going to participate as well, Yumi." Sachiko looked very pleased. Yumi nodded in her typical cute way and put her hands together to say her prayer to the Virgin Mary.

It was Thursday morning and by chance the two girls had arrived at school at the same moment. It was the first time since a week that they saw each other as Sachiko had been busy every day, and the older girl was über-glad she had been given this opportunity to finally talk to Yumi – and drop a few hints of where she might hide her card. Sachiko was not really planning on telling the younger girl the exact location – it would be very improper if she did, and probably highly unappreciated – but there was no harm in subtly giving information that could help Yumi in her search for the card.

After giving her prayer, Sachiko watched Yumi out of the corner of her eye and noticed that a week-long absence from the girl had increased her longing for her even more, so she could not help herself straightening Yumi's overly straight collar just so she could touch her.

"Your uniform should always be tidy," Sachiko sighed as if she was disappointed by Yumi's carelessness regarding the Lillian uniform, yet she could hardly suppress a grin when she was done with her job. Taking her resort to such an excuse was silly and even a bit cruel – as Yumi's uniform had been so neat it would have won the 'perfect uniform contest' easily, if such a thing really existed – but Sachiko wasn't fazed about what she had done, as she had finally been able to touch Yumi again, even though in a way far from what she dreamt every now and then. At least she hadn't attacked the first year from behind, like Sei would sometimes do. That thought made Sachiko grind her teeth.

"Ah, sorry," Yumi muttered with a confused look on her face. She had been pretty sure her collar had been straight when leaving her house this morning, having looked into the mirror only twenty-five times and having even used just a little bit of starch to make sure it stayed that way, but perhaps the wind had made it crooked somehow. Things like that always seemed to happen to her.

"Have you been busy with organising everything?" Yumi asked as they started walking to the school building together. "Seeing as no-one is allowed in the Rose Mansion until the event."

"Yes, it seems that this event will be much greater than the Lillian Newspaper had anticipated at first," Sachiko answered, sounding rather displeased. "Honestly, they should have thought about it properly before suggesting it… But then again, even they couldn't have foreseen the number of people wanting to participate tomorrow."

"I don't think Yoshino-san will like that, because she wasn't too happy about the event in the first place," Yumi said and an unpleasant smile appeared on her face; 'not being happy' was a big understatement, seeing as every day since the announcement in the Lillian newspaper Yoshino's eyes had been burning, as though she had tried to glare Rei's fan girls to death. Yumi was convinced it had actually worked a few times.

"Rei-sama is popular, it's no wonder so many people are so excited about this event," she continued. "I guess it's not in Yoshino-san's favour to have an onee-sama who is so popular."

To be honest, Yumi wasn't too happy about the number of people participating as well, as it meant that her chances of finding Sachiko's red card – thus making up to her – would decrease greatly; Yumi knew very well that Sachiko was even more popular than Rei. She coloured slightly at the thought; it was strange that until now, she had never been so conscious of the fact that Sachiko, a person admired by many, liked spending time with her. Well, she had never seen Sachiko as more than a normal human being in the first place – it was not like the girl had a third arm, or horns, she could brag about; but people like her, not idolising Ogasawara Sachiko, were a vast minority at Lillian.

"Well, even though it will be hard for Yoshino-chan to find Rei's card, she still has the advantage because she knows her so well," Sachiko pointed out, making Yumi snap out of her thoughts. "That's why she has been given the disadvantage of starting later than the other participants."

"Hmm, but she thinks that her knowledge is useless in a situation like this," Yumi said. She made a face when she remembered the conversation that had taken place a week ago, and wondered where Yoshino would start looking for Rei's card.

"Does she really feel that way? That's too bad…" Sachiko glanced at the person walking next to her, a little smile dancing on her lips. It was time Yumi learned some new things about her.

_**Friday**__**…**_

For the past few days most of the students from Lillian Girls' Private School had gone to school in a state of overexcitement; by now, however, they resembled no more than a bunch of hysterical girls at a _Tokio Hotel_-concert. It was no more than normal, as today was the day that they could finally win a half-date with a bouton. Countless girls had gathered before the Rose Mansion, where Tsukiyama Minako, editor-in-chief of the Lillian Kawaraban, and the three boutons were standing. Minako was holding a megaphone in her hand and was trying to get the crowd to shut up. Of course she didn't literally say they had to shut up, as Lillian Jogakuen did not tolerate such language, yet the girl was tempted to dismiss all normal behaviour this time as the participants seemed to be doing the same, talking loudly almost to the point of shouting. _Lillian Jogakuen, a garden for maidens, my ass, _she thought bitterly, but decided to give it one more try.

"People, please! If you do not hear me out, this event can never start!" Minako shouted through the megaphone. That seemed to work, as the crowd was silent almost immediately; as unable as they were to behave like normal civilized people, they couldn't afford losing perhaps the only chance of having a date with a bouton.

"Thank you," Minako sighed contently. "I shall explain the rules now…"

Yumi found herself standing behind the crowd, not wanting to stand in the middle of it in fear of getting trampled. She was holding a little map like everyone else, on which the possible locations of the cards were marked. It seemed that the only places where the students couldn't search, were the headmistress' office and the nurses' office. As Yumi was listening to Minako's explanation, Tsutako came to stand next to her.

"Yumi-san, good luck."

"Thank you," Yumi replied happily, but Tsutako shook her head.

"No, I mean that you literally have to have good luck now. I overheard some girls talking a few minutes ago, contemplating on how they could follow you without being seen."

"Eh?? Follow me?!" Yumi squalled in shock. Tsutako nodded her head.

"Yumi-san, don't you understand? Even though you're not Sachiko-sama's soeur, you still hang out with her, meaning you probably know her better than anyone else besides from the members of the Yamayurikai. _That_ means," Tsutako paused a moment to take a picture of Yumi's perplexed face, "that your chances of finding Sachiko-sama's card are greater than anyone else's. So if those girls follow you, they might get a hold on that precious red card before you do."

"But I don't know Sachiko-sama that well! It's not like I'm her soeur or something!" The idea of someone following her struck Yumi as weird. The idea of a number of people following her was just plain creepy.

"You probably know her better than you think," Tsutako calmly stated and watched Yumi, who looked like the spitting image of a raccoon now, with a mixture of amusement and pity.

"Anyway, the event is starting!" In a millisecond Tsutako switched from friend-mode to professional photographer-mode again. "I need to go, Yumi-san. I think this event will give me a lot of opportunities to take interesting pictures." With an alarming glint in her eyes the girl turned around and hurriedly walked away to hide behind some bushes.

Yumi looked around and noticed the crowd had spread out. Remembering her friend's words, the girl became a bit nervous and quickly wandered away. It was indeed as Tsutako had said: soon after the Rosa Mansion was out of view, Yumi could sense the presence of spooky die-hard Sachiko-fans behind her. She started walking a bit faster, and heard the girls behind her quickening their pace too. Silently hoping for a chance to shake off the stalkers, Yumi went around a corner and saw the perfect opportunity presenting itself in the form of an opened window; in true matrix-style, she leaped through the window and hid in the room until she was fairly certain the stalkers had left the area, all the while wondering why students from Lillian could be so scary sometimes.

"I hope they're gone now…" Yumi muttered to herself and recommenced her quest for the red card. In all honesty, she had no idea where to look for the precious item, and with the school grounds being so immense, it would be very unlikely she found it by sheer luck. Unable to come up with a possible location for the card, Yumi was walking around a bit aimlessly until she heard a familiar voice shouting "And don't your dare go looking for that card again!"

Yumi had a very bad feeling about what she might see if she continued walking in the direction of the voice, yet her feet somehow led her to a quiet spot behind some trees and soon her forebodings were proven correct. Yumi's eyes widened at the highly disturbing sight of Yoshino holding a rope and two girls sitting on the grass, bound to each other. _Probably got to practice a lot on Rei-sama_, Yumi thought, and she was positively shocked that it was the first thing that had popped into her mind. But by now she was wondering why Yoshino was keeping these girls hostage; shouldn't she rather be using her time to go search for the yellow card herself than wasting it in preventing others to do the same?

Feeling extremely uneasy by what she was witnessing Yumi quickly walked away, all the while thinking that students from Lillian were definitely not girls with angelic smiles and pure bodies wrapped in dark-coloured uniforms; but before Yoshino was out of sight, Yumi heard another familiar voice.

"Yoshino-chaaaan! How kinky! Can I join you?"

Satou Sei's voice, without a doubt. Yumi was desperately hoping she had heard wrong, but her hopes were smashed to pieces as she spotted Youko walking in the direction where Yoshino was, holding a cat-o'-nine-tails, and shouting "Sei, don't be so troublesome and leave those girls alone!"

Yumi had the distinct feeling the whip she had seen in Youko's hand was not for educational purposes, and by now she was almost running to get as far away as possible. Having run almost a kilometre in the direction of Far Far Away, Yumi stopped her flight to generously give her lungs some air and dropped herself on a bench.

"Can't… Take… Much… More," she gasped with much difficulty and decided for herself that she had probably imagined everything – it was the only way to keep her mind sane.

She sat on the bench for a while, slowly regaining her ability to think properly (remember kids, your brain needs oxygen) until she realized with a shock that she had already wasted a significant amount of time not looking for Sachiko's card. Understanding that it was of no use to walk around the grounds aimlessly, Yumi racked her brains to think of a place where Sachiko could have hidden her card – after all, people did see her as a likely candidate for winning the half-date.

"Hmmm, where could Sachiko-sama have hidden her card…? Does she like reading? I've seen her carrying a book once…"

Yumi tried to link Sachiko's interests with possible locations for the card, but it wasn't a great success as she didn't know much of Sachiko's interests to begin with. Strange enough – even though she had already told Tsutako she didn't know much of Sachiko – that particular fact struck her as surprising, because she _had_ spent relatively much time with Sachiko for the past few weeks; yet it still seemed she knew nothing of her. Why was that?

Yumi's confidence in finding the card ebbed away slowly but surely when suddenly, as though that part of her brain had just now received enough oxygen to work, she remembered yesterday's conversation with the older girl.

"Could it be..?"

Yumi quickly got up and made her way to the only location she had been able to think of. She glanced at her watch and saw there were only thirteen minutes left until the end of the treasure hunt. Speeding up her pace a little, she noticed there were almost no students to be seen in this part of the school. Did that mean no-one else had thought of that location? If so, she still had a chance, right?

Feeling a bit more confident about her chances again, Yumi continued her way to the old greenhouse. She had almost reached the small building – it was about fifty metres away – when all of a sudden the door of the greenhouse opened and a girl walked out. Yumi watched how the girl started walking in the other direction, towards the Rose Mansion, with a triumphant look in her eyes and wearing a huge smile on her face. The reason for the girl's good mood was pretty obvious, as she was holding a red card in her hand.

_**Later that day…**_

The event had ended. The Rose Mansion was empty, except for one dark presence sitting at the meeting table.

Sachiko was pissed beyond words. She could not believe how things had turned out this day; it was just impossible to acknowledge that Yumi wasn't the person who had found her card. Had she not talked to Yumi yesterday? In the conversation, had she not subtly dropped the fact that she liked the old greenhouse only a few dozen times? When talking about the flowers that grew there, had she not emphasized that her favourite was Rosa Chinensis? Why on earth was it then that Yumi hadn't been the first person to find the card? Honestly, how could someone be so dense?!

Sachiko exhaled deeply as to calm herself, but it was of no avail: thinking about the missed opportunity made her want to rip her handkerchief to shreds. Only a lap dance from Yumi could cheer her up now.

The door of the meeting room opened and the rest of the Yamayurikai except for Yoshino entered the room, but Sachiko paid no attention to that. Rei was the first to notice the girl's mental absence – then noticed something else.

"Sachiko… you're drooling."

Sachiko had been so far away that she had trouble registering Rei's words, but when she heard Sei laughing impudently, she instantly snapped back to reality.

"Ahahahaha! _Sa-chan_, I wonder what it was that could have made you do such an unladylike thing!" the Rose cried out in her amusement.

Sachiko quickly cleaned her mouth with her handkerchief then treated Sei with a look of pure disgust, only partially to hide her embarrassment.

"Rosa Gigantea, may I ask of you to refrain yourself from behaving in such a manner as it is highly disturbing," she said angrily when it looked as though Sei wouldn't stop laughing for the next five months or so.

"That won't stop her." Youko placed herself on a chair next to her soeur. "Well, it's understandable. It's not every day one gets to see my petite soeur spill some saliva from her mouth," she said with a smirk, which made Sachiko's left eye twitch. "Thank goodness Minako-san isn't here yet, or else the headline for the Lillian Newspaper's next issue would've been 'Rosa Chinensis en bouton caught drooling'." Youko was definitely having as much fun as Sei was, only in her own fashion. How evil.

Deciding not to go in on her onee-sama's obvious teasing, Sachiko asked "How so, 'Minako-san isn't here yet'?" to no-one in particular, desperately seeking to change the subject.

"She will come by later, so we can evaluate today's event," Shimako answered. "It definitely was a huge success. I had never expected so many people would participate."

"Hmm, somehow I did," Rei said. "Not only because people seem to worship us, but also because there were people who had set their hopes on winning a half-date with Sachiko so they could present themselves as a possible petite soeur."

The revelation immediately made Sei stop laughing and Youko ask "What do you mean?" sharply.

"I simply mean that there were people who wanted to go on that half-date with the very purpose of making Sachiko aware of their existence, which is normally the first step towards becoming someone's petite soeur."

"How do you know this?" Youko was watching Rei with great interest.

"Because Yoshino had overheard some people talking about it a few days ago," Rei replied. "And they were talking about how Rosa Chinensis en bouton still had not chosen a petite soeur, at least not one who would want to become her petite soeur. So maybe they could aim for the position of Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur."

"Ah, so to sum it up, they were thinking that if someone went on that half-date with Sachiko, and they enjoyed themselves, Sachiko might want that person to become her petite soeur?" Eriko stated. Rei nodded.

"It's actually not that surprising," Sei said matter-of-factly, all traces of hilarity gone. "Because even though _we_ know that Sachiko still wants Yumi-chan to become her petite soeur, the rest of the school doesn't. And it's almost December already, so time is running out for the wannabe-soeurs."

"Does that mean that the girl who found the red card will try to become Sachiko-sama's petite soeur?" Shimako asked.

"It could be. It could also be that she just wants to spend some quality time with Sachiko, who knows. But does it really matter? Because Sachiko only wants Yumi-chan as her petite soeur, right Sachiko? … Sachiko?"

Sachiko had not heard Rei, just as she had not heard the rest of the conversation. The moment Rei had dropped that stunning revelation, something had snapped in Sachiko. Because for the past few weeks, almost months, her world had almost solely consisted of Yumi – befriending the girl, flirting with her a little, just so she would become her petite soeur and preferably much more. However, this had proven to be much more troublesome than first anticipated and things were only progressing slowly; moreover, there had been difficulties beyond her control-- her insatiable need for touching Yumi, Sei's shameless glomping of the girl, her onee-sama's teasing, the disastrous date, the occasional chicken nightmares and today's failure. Still she had never, ever thought of giving up on the girl, even though things had not always gone the way she wanted – and she _hated_ when things didn't go her way – and even though her patience and self-control had been pushed to the limit on occasions.

So the fact that, according to Rei, there were people thinking that _they_ might become Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite soeur, was the last straw for Sachiko. The difficulties, the failures and the misfortunes – everything came crashing down now on her already troubled heart. And so did her patience.

She had had it. She was done playing games. No more Mr Nice Guy, Girl, whatever; no more half-assed attempts to seduce Yumi; no more settling for less than what she wanted. And Yumi was what she wanted. Yumi was what she would get. Yumi was her _prey_. She just needed to look for one opportunity to blow the girl's mind and capture her heart with her rosary. Just one.

* * *

**A/N:**

_**Tsukemono**_** are Japanese Pickles.**

_**Umeboshi**_** is a type of tsukemono, namely pickled Japanese apricot fruits.**

_**Onigiri**_** is a Japanese rice snack, often wrapped in seaweed.**

_**Tokio Hotel**_** is a German band that is disturbingly popular with a lot of girls. They're probably not very known outside of (West-) Europe. **


	6. A new hope

Oh wow, I updated?! My deepest apologies, I know it has been a while (now that's an understatement!). What's even sadder is that I can't promise you that the next update will come sooner, because school has finally caught up on me. Oh dear. But I know you'll forgive me. ;-)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maria-sama Ga Miteru. As usual.**

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**VI. A ****new hope**

"It's all my fault."

"...Hmm? What is, dear?"

Miki put down her cup of coffee, tore her eyes away from the interesting article she was reading and turned her attention fully to the girl sitting opposite of the table (one does not forget Lillian rules so easily).

"That I didn't find the red card."

Yumi sighed deeply and looked quite miserable by now, her shoulders hanging low and a huge piece of cake in front of her, but Miki had no idea what was going through her daughter's mind, or even what she was talking about.

Indeed, she could not possibly know what Yumi was feeling, because the girl had not told anyone of the event that had taken place earlier the day. So to Miki it was as though her daughter had all of a sudden decided to act all emo, like she thought it was cool to act like those long-haired, make-up-wearing negative thinkers she sometimes saw in the park. Frankly, it was rather irritating.

"Yumi," Miki began sternly, "stop acting so depressing, get a hold of yourself! I did not raise you like that; if I wanted to see some emo, I would've gone to a concert from My Chemical Romance, yet I'm here, sitting at home with you. So please, stop acting all angst-y. For the love of god, you're not Chikane Himemiya!"

Yumi was a bit surprised by her mother's sudden outburst, but oddly enough she felt slightly better-- at least she didn't look like she had eaten a dozen thumbnails anymore.

"Good girl," Miki said approvingly then continued on a more gentle tone, "but why were you looking like that, Yumi?"

Miki had not expected her question to cause a flood of words coming out of her daughter's mouth, but she somehow managed to understand that Yumi felt the need to do something for the rich, beautiful girl aka Ogasawara Sachiko, because that girl had done so much for her recently.

"…but I didn't manage to find her card, so I lost that chance…" Yumi concluded, looking just a tad gloomier again.

"Yumi, don't start looking depressed again, it was just a game. There's no need to feel bad about you not finding that card," Miki replied soothingly. Of course, she didn't know of the feeling of odd gloominess that resided in her daughter's heart ever since the event had ended.

"And besides," she continued, "it was not like that half-date was your only chance to make up to Sachiko-san. Listen, if it means so much to you, why don't you invite her over for dinner? I think she'll value that more than a half-date that you could've won by accident, because then she will really know that you appreciate what she's done for you."

That simple suggestion seemed to have lifted Yumi to higher grounds, because her face suddenly lit up and she seemed to be surrounded by a soft light, similar to what a low-IQ high-school-girl in a shoujo manga sees when she's looking at a bishounen who, for no apparent reason, is standing in the hallway looking all bishounen-y.

"Eh, Yumi, are you alright?" Miki asked with a concerned voice when she saw her daughter suddenly being surrounded by soft light and beautiful roses.

"…Yes, I'm feeling great now! Thank you!" Yumi cried out and went over to her mother for a crushing hug. "This is a wonderful idea! I will suggest it to her when I see her next week! But oh, when are we going to have this dinner, and what do we have to serve..?"

Yumi exited the kitchen in a state of delirium, softly mumbling to herself, leaving her mother alone at the kitchen table. After she couldn't hear Yumi anymore, Miki sighed and shook her head in slight amusement. Her daughter could be so weird sometimes.

_**The next week…**_

Yumi hurriedly walked towards the Rose Mansion. It was pouring, and she had inconveniently forgotten to bring her favourite blue umbrella with her, meaning she was soaked when she finally reached the crème-coloured front door of the Mansion. Yumi sighed; it was definitely bad luck that she had chosen this day, with its torrential downpour, as the day she hoped to be able to talk to Sachiko about coming over to dinner.

After making sure her clothes didn't drip rain water anymore, she went up to the first floor and knocked on the meeting room's heavy door, letting herself in after hearing a soft 'come in' from behind the door. To her great disappointment, she only saw Mizuno Youko in the room, and not the other member of the Red Rose family.

"Gokigenyou, Yumi-chan," Youko greeted and wondered why her petite soeur's secret crush was standing timidly in the doorway. Normally the younger girl would just burst in like she owned the place, totally not fazed by the fact that she'd enter a room full with members of the Yamayurikai – that was one of the things Youko liked so much about her – but today Yumi was silent and avoided to meet her eyes. Yumi, on the other hand, knew perfectly well why she wasn't too eager to enter the room: Mizuno Youko was sitting there all alone, and with the way the older girl was sending out vibes, Yumi had the unpleasant feeling that something she might not want to know would unfold itself if she stayed here.

"Oh my, your clothes are wet. You didn't bring an umbrella with you?" Youko asked. Yumi shook her head, a bit embarrassed that her clothes still looked rather sloppy.

"If you stay here for a while, your clothes will dry and you can borrow an umbrella. I think there's a spare one downstairs," Youko said. "So don't just stand there and come in." Yumi had no choice but to meekly obey; she mentally sighed and slowly walked into the room.

"I assume you're here to see Sachiko?" Youko asked. Yumi nodded.

"Well then, shall we wait together for her to come? Today's meeting got cancelled because, frankly, we had nothing to discuss, so the others already went home. Sachiko had something to do and she told us she'd join us later, so she doesn't know that today's meeting got cancelled."

"So you're waiting here to tell her she can go home?"

Youko nodded and smiled. "Yumi, why don't you sit here," she offered and indicated the chair next to hers. "So we can talk a bit."

"About what?" Yumi cautiously asked as she sat herself on the chair. More than ever, Yumi had the feeling that there was a hidden side of Rosa Chinensis that only a few unlucky bastards got to see-- and those few were probably only limited to members of the Yamayurikai. _Sei and the whip… No wait, that didn't happen, remember?_

"My, about Sachiko of course," Youko replied cheerfully and got up to get Yumi and herself a cup of tea.

"Sachiko-sama?" Yumi echoed and stared at the other girl, who was busy with the cups, feeling even more uneasy now.

"Yes. Why do you sound so surprised, Yumi-chan? After all, isn't it my task, as Sachiko's onee-sama, to get to know a bit more of the people she spends so much time with? And you, Yumi-chan," said Youko while putting two cups of tea on the table, "are definitely a person Sachiko spends a lot of time with."

_**In the meanwhile…**_

Sachiko impatiently looked at her watch for what she thought had to be the thousandth time. She had come to the library to return some books, but when she got there, no-one was to be seen behind the counter. It pissed Sachiko off immensely, but lately, every little thing could get to her. The reason for her low level of tolerance was the fact that she had spent the entire weekend looking for a legitimate reason for her to spend some time alone with Yumi, but had come up with nothing. Sachiko didn't want to simply ask Yumi out on another date, since it might put the younger girl off -- there's a limit on how greedy a person may seem -- and she couldn't invite her to the Yamayurikai Christmas party either, because then they would be far from alone and, more importantly, Sei and Youko would be present too. Also, the fact that she hadn't seen Yumi all day had only enhanced her already high level of irritation. Sachiko had thought that, even though she had yet to find an opportunity to make Yumi completely hers, she could at least continue in 'fixing Yumi's ribbon' as much as possible, but seeing as she hadn't been able to even fulfil that tiny desire, she was close to having a hysterical outburst now.

Deciding that waiting any longer wouldn't do her health any good, Sachiko stuffed the books back in her bag and made her way to the Rose Mansion, severely annoyed that even the weather had decided to work against her. It was a good thing she at least hadn't forgotten to bring an umbrella with her, or else she might've done something horrible nasty just to get everything out of her system, like throwing litter on the ground. Lost in her incredibly evil thoughts, the girl didn't even notice she had reached the biscuit door of the meeting room, until she heard a high voice yelling "Eh???" from behind the door.

There was only one person who could answer in such an intelligent way…

Sachiko quickly turned the knob and opened the door, seeing her onee-sama and, much to her delight, a flustered Yumi sitting at the table.

Wait.

A flustered Yumi?!

"Ah, Sachiko!" Youko exclaimed, although Sachiko thought she heard a bit of disappointment in her voice.

"Sachiko-sama…" Yumi slowly shifted her eyes to meet Sachiko's, but when they met, she quickly turned her head away.

"Gokigenyou, onee-sama, Yumi," Sachiko said, slightly baffled by Yumi's odd behaviour.

"We were both waiting here for you to come," Youko explained and glanced at Yumi, a barely noticeable smirk on her face. "Today's meeting got cancelled, so you can go home," she continued lightly.

"Why did today's meeting get cancelled?" Sachiko asked, suspiciously looking from her onee-sama to Yumi and back.

"Because we had nothing to discuss about," Youko answered, standing up and taking hers and Yumi's teacup in her hands. "So you can go home now. And take Yumi-chan with you, I'll stay here and wash these cups."

"Onee-sama, let me do it," Sachiko said, shocked that her onee-sama would do a chore that normally a bouton's petite soeur had to do.

"I'm fine, just go home. And besides, Yumi-chan specially came to the Rose Mansion to see you, so I think she might have something to say to you," Youko stated, and continued washing the cups.

Hearing that Yumi had something to say to her, Sachiko's irritation dissolved in thin air and she instantly didn't care anymore that her onee-sama had to work like a dog and said, "Well, if that's that the case, then we shall leave. Let's go, Yumi. Gokigenyou, onee-sama." Yumi, who had been staring out the window all the time looking at the rain which still fell in litres out of the sky, looked a bit unsure of whether to help Youko or leave with Sachiko, but finally stood up, said "Gokigenyou, Rosa Chinensis" and exited the room.

Sachiko and Yumi went down the stairs in silence, until they reached the front door and the younger girl commented that she hadn't brought an umbrella with her. She had completely forgotten to ask for the spare one; but with the conversation she had had with Youko, it wasn't a big surprise.

"I've brought an umbrella with me, we can walk underneath it together," Sachiko said, her heart roaring, not even thinking about giving Yumi the spare umbrella; even though it was impossible to woo Yumi now, they at least were alone again. Yumi nodded without looking at the other girl, and together they began their quest of reaching the main gate in the pouring rain. After walking a few minutes in silence, hearing nothing but the rain and her heart going doki-doki all the time, it dawned to Sachiko that Yumi hadn't looked her in the eyes since she had opened the door of the meeting room in the Rose Mansion.

"Yumi? Onee-sama said you might have something you wanted to tell me?" Sachiko said, wondering if something bad had happened earlier in the Rose Mansion.

"Y-Yes!" Yumi answered in surprise, as though she had just been disturbed from a daydream. Sachiko eyed the younger girl and wondered what she had been thinking about; normally it was her who was always caught up in a daydream, thinking about… stuff.

"You see… Sachiko-sama…" Yumi hesitantly began.

"…Yes? What's the matter, Yumi?" Sachiko said when it seemed as if no more useful words would come out of the shorter girl's mouth. She tried to meet with Yumi's eyes, but the girl just stared before her. She could see Yumi's lip tremble before answering.

"Sachiko-sama, I realized I haven't thanked you properly yet for bringing me that tea the other week, I didn't even thank you for setting up that date with me. So… The reason I came to the Rose Mansion was to ask you if you'd like to come over to my house and have dinner with me and my family, as a way to thank you," Yumi finally said, turning her head to see Sachiko straight in the eyes. That announcement, together with suddenly looking the incredibly adorable Yumi straight in the eyes, made Sachiko almost drop to the floor because her heart had started thumping painfully hard in her chest. The only visible reaction Sachiko had, however, was that she dumbly let go of her umbrella, dropping it on the ground; she was unaware of the rain pouring down on her, unaware of Yumi hastily picking the umbrella up and staring at her with confused eyes. The only thing she felt, was a warm feeling so strong it might've set her hair on fire if it hadn't been raining.

Yumi invited her over for dinner? Did that mean…

"Sachiko-sama, is something the matter?" Yumi asked worriedly when she saw the other girl just staring, as if in trance.

"Yumi…" Sachiko finally said before a gigantic smile appeared on her face. "Yumi, of course I'd like to come over and have dinner with you and your family!" She felt completely euphoric, as if Yumi had just decided to take off her clothes and perform a rain dance. This was her chance, the perfect opportunity for her plans, and Sachiko couldn't believe it had presented itself so quickly to her; moreover, it was brought to her by Yumi herself!

"R-Really?" Yumi exclaimed, an equally gigantic smile on her face.

"Of course!" Sachiko replied. "You really don't have to thank me like that for the tea and the date, because honestly, the pleasure was all mine, but if you offer it yourself, I couldn't possibly say no! So please, tell me the details."

_**Same day, 22.00 PM, Tokyo time…**_

Yumi was lying in her bed, thinking about earlier that day. So she had invited Rosa Chinensis en bouton over for dinner. It was no big deal, really. It was simply a way to say 'thank you' because the older girl had been so kind to her. But why did she feel so incredibly nervous about it? It was all Rosa Chinensis' fault; if she hadn't made those comments, she would've never even thought about it. But it was too bad that Rosa Chinensis had made those comments, and now she could think of nothing else.

_Flashback!_

"_And you, Yumi-chan, are definitely a person Sachiko spends a lot of time with." _

"_Well, I don't know if it's really that much time I'm spending with her-- I mean, most of the time we have our own classes and I almost never see her during lunch, and most of the time she's in the Rose Mansion anyway…-"_

"_Oh my, you do seem to keep track of when and where you see Sachiko, don't you. If you see it that way, perhaps you don't spend that much time with her after all, but you do come to the Rose Mansion quite often after school, and for someone who isn't her petite soeur, or a classmate or year mate, for someone who actually has no connection whatsoever with the Yamayurikai, you, relatively speaking, do spend a lot of time with her, Yumi-chan." _

"_She invited me over to the Rose Mansion once, and the reason I keep coming… Well, I just like coming here, Rosa Chinensis."_

"_Yes, I think so too. And now you've come again. Could you tell me, Yumi-chan, what it is you wish to discuss with Sachiko, coming all the way to the Rose Mansion after school, in this weather?"_

"…_I wanted to invite Sachiko-sama over for dinner, because she has been so kind to me." _

"_Oh? You'd go through all the trouble of having her over for dinner, just because she had been kind to you? Surely she couldn't have been the only person who had been kind to you, could she?"_

"_That's… not the matter."_

"_I don't think so either. It couldn't have only been the matter of her kindness that made you want to invite her to your house for dinner."_

"…"

"…_Yumi-chan?"_

"_Y-Yes?"_

"_Please tell me what your feelings are for my petite soeur."_

"_Eh?? W-What do you mean by that?"_

"_Yumi-chan, as I told you, I'm Sachiko's onee-sama. I take notice of the people she spends her time with, meaning I've taken notice of you. Your behaviour towards my petite soeur has made me curious for some time now." _

"_My behaviour?"_

"_Oh, yes. It really makes me wonder whether or not you're trying to become Sachiko's petite soeur after all."_

"_Wha-"_

"_Or, equally possible, her lover."_

"_Eh???"_

_End of flashback!_

Yumi buried her lobster-red face in her pillow; why did Youko have to say something like that? It was shocking enough to hear that she acted as though she had wanted to become Sachiko's soeur, which wasn't the case, honestly… But it was mind-blowing, in a very negative way, to hear that she was trying to become Sachiko's lover. It wasn't really helping her either that her heart was racing in her chest; the idea of being Sachiko's lover…

"Mmmmmmm!" was the sound of Yumi pathetically crying out in her pillow. Why wouldn't the thought leave her mind? If she kept thinking about it, she couldn't possibly face Sachiko in a normal way anymore! It had truly been a gift from the gods that she hadn't been given the time to think about it too much when she had been walking with Sachiko in the rain, because they had been too caught up in discussing the upcoming dinner plans; otherwise, she wouldn't have known how to act. But what would she have to do if she started thinking about it again the next time she saw Sachiko? Would she be able to act like her heart wasn't beating like a beat boxer?

"But why…"

Yumi took a few deep breaths and sat up straight in her bed; the small box of Chinese tea Sachiko had given her, was on the nightstand beside her bed. Yumi looked at it, still feeling her heart pounding in her body like a drum.

"…Sachiko-sama's lover, huh…"

_**Elsewhere, at the same time…**_

Sachiko was in her room dancing a victory dance, acting like a complete lunatic which was, of course, completely uncharacteristic for her. But she couldn't care less; the only thing she knew was that next week, she'd have a petite soeur of her own, and someone she could make out with, no doubt about it. Her plan was set up, and it was the last plan she'd have to make. Sachiko couldn't believe she was going to do something so bold, but in order to make Yumi hers… The girl smirked and twirled around elegantly, in the process grabbing a picture from her nightstand. It was the photograph taken by Tsutako, showing her very first moment with Yumi. Sachiko kissed the photograph and stared lovingly at the brown-haired girl depicted on it. She smiled and continued twirling around.

_Yumi, five days from now, you'll finally be mine._


	7. Caught

Thanks a bunch to the readers. I'm glad that I was able to make some of you laugh; I guess I succeeded in my mission, then! ^_^ Thank you very much, reviewers. Know that it is always immensely appreciated and that it keeps me going.

So here it is, almost a year since I first started this story, I'm finally able to post the last chapter! Ahahaha... xD

**Disclaimer: o_O **

* * *

**VII. Caught**

"Youko, you truly are an evil person."

"Oh my, thank you for the compliment."

Youko and Sei were sitting in the Rose Mansion, preparing for the Yamayurikai Christmas party. Contrary to a few days before, the sun was shining radiantly and the sky was vivid blue. It was as if the weather was reflecting Mizuno Youko's good mood.

"And you are really enjoying this, aren't you," Sei said as she was taking notes on what to buy for the party.

"Don't be so innocent," Youko replied. "Wouldn't you? I think we will finally get to see some progress after these few, actually rather uninteresting months." The Red Rose smirked and flipped through a magazine containing festivity tips. "Should we decorate the room in gold or would you rather use red and green colours?"

"You sure are certain of yourself." Sei stopped writing to look at her friend with her typical Sei-grin. "But I guess it'll indeed be more interesting from now on. Still, it doesn't change the fact that you manipulated things…"

"You can hardly say I manipulated things," Youko said, still flipping through the magazine, not entirely successful in hiding the amusement in her voice. "I just had a little chat with her, saw how she reacted on it and drew conclusions from that. There's really nothing manipulative about what I've done."

Sei laughed. "Youko, you're evil for not letting me have some fun too, you're evil because you like yaoi that much but most of all, you're evil because you seem to succeed every time without anyone knowing you even did something."

Youko looked up from her magazine and smiled at the White Rose. "And I know you _love_ it. Alright, I've decided. We'll decorate the room with golden ornaments."

The two rosas continued to work in silence until the other members of the Yamayurikai entered the room. After doing the preparations for the party together, the topic was quickly and unsubtly changed by Youko.

"Everyone," she began. "What if we invited Yumi-chan to the party? It might be a splendid opportunity for Sachiko to finally make Yumi-chan her soeur." She turned to Sachiko, looking at the girl with a stern expression on her face. "After all, weren't you the one who said you would make her your petite soeur? It has been a couple of months already, and we still haven't seen any results."

As soon as Youko had mentioned the ever so heavenly Yumi and the ever so sensitive topic of making mentioned girl her imouto, Sachiko had tried her best to keep her left eye from twitching. It irked her to no end to hear her onee-sama's proposal, because she knew what the older girl was trying to do. (Sachiko made a mental note to herself to not be such an evil onee-sama for her petite soeur; in fact, she would be quite the opposite.)

"Rosa Chinensis, that is a wonderful idea," Eriko agreed. "If Sachiko brings Yumi-chan to the party, then she can see for herself what she can be a part of if she was to accept Sachiko's rosary."

"Plus, it'll also be a great opportunity for Yumi-chan to get to see the side of Sachiko when she's in the presence of people who already know her," Sei added. "That way, Sachiko can simply act the way she normally does and enjoy herself to the fullest. I bet if there is anything that interests Yumi-chan in Sachiko, that'd be it."

By now, Sachiko was unable to keep her left eye from twitching; honestly, why were those people meddling so much with affairs that weren't really their business to begin with?! Moreover, they were talking as if she wasn't even there to hear what they were saying! And how dared Sei acting like she knew all about Yumi! Was the White Rose trying to get her jealous on purpose?!

"Yes, very good point, Rosa Gigantea," Youko said. "So, Sachiko, don't forget to invite Yumi-chan to the party then, okay?" The Rose smiled sweetly at her petite soeur, who was too stunned and furious to reply in a proper manner. It was not that she would mind the company of Yumi, but she simply didn't want her onee-sama and Sei to be there when she was with Yumi. Her onee-sama, for one, knew how she really felt for the younger girl, so she would probably see her actions around Yumi as indecent (but not all of them were, honestly) and Sachiko suspected that Sei probably also knew a bit more of the matter.

"What's the matter, Sachiko, lost your tongue?" Youko asked innocently when the only reaction she got from her petite soeur was one of weird facial expressions and twitching of the left eye.

"Onee-sama-" Sachiko began angrily, but she was interrupted by Youko.

"Sachiko, don't force yourself on things. Yumi is always welcome at the Christmas party, but it's up to you to invite her, so you still have the last call."

Youko gave her petite soeur a knowing smile and changed the subject to the upcoming new year, but Sachiko wasn't listening anymore. It was so troublesome to have Mizuno Youko as your onee-sama; one moment the girl could be so meddlesome to the point it became as annoying as seeing Kashiwagi dressing up like a woman for the nth time, the other she was the most understanding onee-sama you could ask for. Sachiko sighed mentally; Youko had just said she didn't have to force herself on things, but perhaps that was exactly the thing she was going to do the day after the next-- actually, that was what she had been doing since the moment she had met Yumi. Like she cared. As long as she got Yumi, it was all fine.

_**And so the fated day appeared…**_

The Fukuzawa household was in a state of emergency, all thanks to one pigtail-wearing person. Yumi was running to and fro in the house while shouting instructions to the poor people who were helping her out, meaning her parents and Yuuki. There was really no reason for Yumi to run around the house as the only place she actually needed to be was the kitchen, but the energizer bunny in the girl had awakened from its slumbering sleep and was now dominating her actions. Yumi welcomed the feeling of being so pumped up; it would help her in making sure Sachiko would enjoy the evening. Obviously, she had no idea that Sachiko's ideal form of enjoyment wasn't to have a cosy dinner with Yumi but rather to eat the younger girl.

"Yuuki, be sure to fold the napkins properly!" Yumi shouted at her brother while untying her apron; the preparations for the dinner were finally done. "I'm going upstairs now to change! Sachiko-sama's going to be here in fifteen minutes!"

Yumi dashed upstairs to her room and closed the door. She had decided to wear a sleeveless red dress and a black bolero; the simple combination wasn't all that bad-looking, Yumi thought. She wondered if she'd ever look as elegant as Sachiko, but then sighed and shook her head. That would never happen in a lifetime; Yumi didn't think of herself as ugly, but Sachiko simply possessed a natural grace and beauty not seen with any other living organism she knew (except perhaps for the hippopotamus). Plus, she had to admit it; the older girl had a body to _die_ for. That particular aspect of Sachiko wasn't the thing that Yumi found the most appealing part of the older girl, but it was undeniable that Sachiko's body resembled that of a Brazilian supermodel. To her embarrassment, Yumi noticed what she was in fact thinking and noticed where her trains of thoughts were going to lead her to if she kept it up.

It was very hard for Yumi to admit it, but nowadays she thought about Sachiko quite often that way, going practically gaga over the girl's body. It was not something she had control of. Obviously, her thinking like that was a direct result from everything that had happened to her since she had started to hang out with the members of the Yamayurikai, the conversation with Rosa Chinensis being the last of memorable events. Remembering that moment, Yumi was rather glad she hadn't seen anyone from the Yamayurikai anymore since that day. They probably had been very busy with the preparations for the Yamayurikai Christmas Party. She remembered Yoshino telling her something about it-- that was after she had first listened to Yoshino's ideas of making Rei skip the half-date with the impudent girl who had had the nerve of finding the yellow card, going from locking Rei up in her room to promising her something 'good' if she didn't go (Yumi had no idea what Yoshino had meant with that statement, but she had not wanted to find out because her friend had worn a silly grin on her face back then). However, even though she occasionally had sensual images of Sachiko in her head, Yumi was now of opinion that everything what Youko had told her was just plain rubbish. She had come to that conclusion after having thought about the matter calmly for a few days-- unlike the day of the conversation, where her emotions had taken away her ability of logic thinking. It had been pretty easy, really. She had not at all behaved the way Youko had pointed out. She was not trying to become Sachiko's soeur or lover. She just wanted them to be good friends. And the reason for the Sachiko-fantasies was that her brain was seriously corrupted. Hanging out with the Yamayurikai sure had its consequences. But the only thing that mattered, Yumi mused, was that she would be able to face Sachiko normally today.

Compared to Ogasawara Sachiko's thoughts, however, Yumi's were that of a pure, angelic maiden. Sachiko was on her way to Yumi's house, sitting in the backseat of a luxurious car. She was feeling nervous and excited, because the outcome of months of hard labour would be known in a few hours. Even though she had barely gotten any sleep during the night, she wasn't feeling tired at all, for a tired person could not do _this_ and _that_ to Yumi. Recalling what she had dreamt during the few hours of sleep she had had, Sachiko snickered. Hopefully that fantasy would be turned into reality in a not so distant future. Well, it probably would. Failure was no option for her.

In the meanwhile, Yumi was in the bathroom fixing her hair. Looking in the mirror, she decided that wearing her hair loose wouldn't make her look like a horrific monkey-eating beast and returned to her room. A pleasant feeling crawled into her stomach when she thought about the evening that was about to come; she would have fun, no doubt about it. She wondered what Sachiko's opinions would be on the food she had cooked together with her mother. The chicken stuffed with chocolate, nuts and fish balls was perhaps a bit of a weird dish, but when she had eaten it in some exotic restaurant during a vacation in Nagoya she had fallen in love with the unorthodox taste immediately. Hopefully Sachiko would feel the same way. The sound of the door bell made Yumi snap out of her musings; she quickly rushed downstairs before anyone else could open the door.

"Good evening, Sachiko-sama," Yumi greeted after yanking open the door, her cheeks a bit flustered from having run down the stairs. Sachiko smiled and greeted back, not believing what her eyes were seeing. Yumi, with her hair casually loose and cute pink cheeks. Yumi, in a dress that fitted her to a T, a dress that showed – admittedly – the few curves the girl possessed, but _damn_ did they show those curves! It wouldn't be all that surprising to Sachiko if she had passed out due to anaemia right on the spot. But she couldn't afford letting her body react as it pleased. Instead she enthusiastically complimented Yumi on her looks, went inside and thanked the girl for the invitation.

"It smells good in here," Sachiko said when the aromas of several different dishes met her nose. She could vaguely recognise the scent of melted chocolate, tempura, chicken and several herbs she didn't know by name.

"I hope you'll like the taste as well," Yumi said and stretched out her arms. "Sachiko-sama, may I take your coat?"

"Oh, of course…"

When Sachiko took off her coat it was Yumi's turn to be completely speechless, because what she saw before her was the most beautiful sight ever she had ever seen. Sachiko was wearing a silver-coloured, low-cut spaghetti strap dress which stopped about an inch below the knees and was made of some fine, expensive-looking fabric. A fabulous silver necklace adorned the girl's pale and delicate neck, a gorgeous feature which was even more emphasized by Sachiko having pinned up her hair in an elegant knot. Because the girl's skin was so pale and almost angel-like, her slightly flushed cheeks were even more prominent and it amplified her natural beauty with a factor of a million. The sight was simply stunning. Yumi could hardly believe people like Sachiko could really exist and she could hardly believe Sachiko would dress up so fine just because she would be having dinner at her place, a house whose inhabitants were simple commoners.

Sachiko saw Yumi looking at her with big eyes that took in every centimetre of her body, went from slightly red to deep-red and positioned herself so Yumi could notice her womanly curves even better, meaning she had one hand on her hip and the other behind her head. This obvious change of pose didn't go unnoticed to Yumi, because more than ever Sachiko looked like she could be the winner of Japan's Next Top Model. To her delight, Sachiko saw the younger girl's eyes becoming even bigger. She didn't care that standing this way was actually a really moronic sight, because it had a most desired effect on Yumi.

"Good evening, Sachiko-san!" The voice of Yumi's mother made Yumi yelp in surprise and Sachiko quickly take a normal pose. Sachiko turned to Miki and bowed. "Good evening, thank you for having me over," et cetera et cetera, whatever polite Japanese people say when they are guests at someone's house.

"You look wonderful!" Miki looked at Sachiko in awe. "Don't you think so too, Yumi?"

"Yes, absolutely perfect," Yumi breathed. Then her eyes widened in shock. Sachiko blushed and tried her best not to grope Yumi.

"Shall we go to the dining room now?" Miki suggested. "The others are already waiting for us and they're dying to meet you, Sachiko-san."

As soon as they began dinner, Sachiko found herself answering tons of questions fired by Yumi's parents (do you have siblings, what is your father's profession, have you always gone to Lillian, do you think Brad Pitt is hot etc.). She could not even enjoy the wonderful sensation of sitting oh so very close to sexy Yumi, because she was too preoccupied with the questions. Yumi's parents didn't even notice Sachiko had not been able to take even one bite because of them.

"Mother, father, _please_..!" Yumi looked like she could die of embarrassment; her parents could really be so dense sometimes, which was actually the ultimate proof that Yumi was indeed their daughter. Sachiko looked at them and laughed lightly; the three of them had identical facial expressions now, resembling embarrassed people who wished there was a hole in which they could hide. It made Sachiko feel as though she had wandered in some sort of comical family show.

"Our apologies," Miki said sheepishly. "Where are our manners? Please, eat!"

Sachiko smiled and nodded, mouthed thank you to Yumi and took a bite of what Yumi had called 'Special Chicken Surprise'. The moment she tasted the food on her tongue, Sachiko had to keep herself from spraying everyone with the contents in her mouth. What she had just put in her mouth, tasted absolutely revolting; adding this to previous traumas, Sachiko was almost certain she could never eat chicken again. Was this some sort of cruel punishment from Maria-sama for making those Yumi-posters?! Yumi, being the daughter of her parents (no, really?), misinterpreted Sachiko's shaky smile and enthusiastically said, "Yes, it's quite good, isn't it? It's a recipe from a restaurant in Nagoya!"

Sachiko swallowed down the food whilst trying hard not to show that her biggest wish this very moment was to brutally murder the person who had given Yumi the recipe. "A-Are there fish balls stuffed in this chicken?" She asked shakily.

Yumi nodded. "And chocolate, and hazel nuts!" She was beaming so much that Sachiko didn't know what she wanted to do more: to hunt the recipe-giver down and bring him in a situation of infinite pain, or to take Yumi to her room and bring her in a situation of infinite pleasure.

"I see…" Lucky for Sachiko, the other dishes weren't even half as weird as the Special Chicken Surprise, but she was more grateful that the members of the Fukuzawa family didn't push her to take more of the unusual dish. Sachiko was enjoying herself immensely, even though she was simply having dinner. Being near Yumi, being able to talk to her and hang out with her, was enough for Sachiko to have a good time; those were the effects from that wonderful thing called love. She knew it sounded awfully corny, but it was the truth. Of course, doing those normal, everyday things with Yumi was far from being satisfying enough for her. She had been holding back for what seemed like a century by now, but luckily, holding back would finally come to an end today… Hmmm…

"Sachiko-sama, are you okay? You haven't taken a bite for three minutes and forty-two seconds by now," Yumi said worriedly when she saw Sachiko prod her food absent-mindedly.

"Woa Yumi, you actually counted that?" Yuuki seemed impressed by his sister's very useful ability. With Yumi by his side, he might not have to give up on those plans on conquering the world.

"Yes! It's one of those everyday life things I really enjoy myself with, next to reading and watching my toenails grow," Yumi answered excitedly.

Sachiko sighed; so why was it she had fallen in love with this girl? Sensing that Yumi was still looking at her, she turned her attention back to her food. The time to act was drawing nearer and nearer. After a few minutes she nudged Yumi and quietly, so no-one else could hear her, asked if she could have some time alone with her after dinner; there was something she wanted to show her. After a short silence, Yumi nodded and said they could go to her room. Now it was Yumi who was prodding her food absent-mindedly. The more she thought about it, the more uncertain she felt. Shaking her head, Yumi tried to get rid of the feeling. She didn't want to ruin the evening. For Sachiko's sake.

"The food was delicious, thank you very much," Sachiko said semi-truthfully after everyone had finished eating.

"It was no problem at all," Miki said. "Yumi has done most of the work. She had been so eager to make this dinner a success."

"Ahahahaha…" Yumi's face was turning a nice shade of pink. "Shall we go to my room now, Sachiko-sama? Then, eh, I can show you that book I've been talking about," she added when she saw her parents and Yuuki looking at her curiously. She wanted to avoid her family thinking odd things. Huh, wait. _What_ odd things?!

"Yes, gladly," Sachiko replied. The two girls excused themselves and went upstairs together. Yumi closed the door behind them when they entered her room. She didn't release the door knob because she was painfully aware of the fact that she was all alone with Sachiko.

"Yumi?"

"Y-Yes, Sachiko-sama?" Yumi turned around and leaned against the door, feeling as if someone had raised the temperature in her room. Not only was she aware that they were by themselves, every little thing about Ogasawara Sachiko seemed to catch her attention now. The way her voice was soft yet slightly demanding, but gentle; the way her long, feminine fingers always tucked those few loose strands of hair behind her left ear, even now with her hair pinned up; the way those shiny, dark eyes looked at her as if nothing in the world existed in front of those eyes but her… Yumi felt a jolt of electricity run through her body. She gritted her teeth; why was she thinking like that? Why was she feeling this way? Hadn't she concluded that she had a normal, friendly relationship with Sachiko? Why was it that she was thinking about Youko's words now? And _why was Sachiko moving closer?!_

"Yumi, do you like cookies?" Sachiko asked innocently.

Yumi stared at Sachiko, slightly confused. "Eh? Cookies?? Of course I do…"

"Ah, I'm glad. Here, would you like to have a cookie?" Sachiko took a bag of cookies out of her small purse and offered it to Yumi. "These are the result of my first attempt in baking cookies. I was hoping you wanted to try them and told me what you thought of them," Sachiko explained.

"Really? I'll gladly taste them, then," Yumi said. She felt like a heavy burden was lifted from her heart; Sachiko had simply wanted to show her some self-made cookies! She took one out of the bag and took a bite from the yellowish goodness.

"It tastes good!" Yumi exclaimed and she quickly put the rest of the biscuit in her mouth.

Sachiko's face considerably lit up. "Thank goodness! I'm so happy you like them, but-" she giggled "-you must really like it a lot, if the corners of your mouth are covered with crumbs!"

"They are?" Yumi touched the corners of her mouth, but didn't feel anything.

"Oh my, Yumi, let me wipe it for you," Sachiko said. Before Yumi could even protest, Sachiko was standing right in front of her, a mischievous smile visible on her face. Yumi automatically tried to back away, but realized with a shock that she was already standing with her back against the door. She almost uttered a shrill cry when she felt a soft finger stroking the right corner of her mouth.

"It's very important to keep your appearance tidy," Sachiko whispered and continued to stroke the corner of Yumi's mouth, holding the girl's chin.

"You're… right…" Yumi felt her heart beating franticly in her chest and she noticed she was holding her breath. The skin that was being touched had become over-sensitive all of a sudden. Sachiko was standing so close she could smell the perfume the girl was wearing-- a mixture of lemon and Dahlias.

"And your lips, they have crumbs on them too," Sachiko softly continued. She rubbed her thumb over Yumi's bottom lip while at the same time Yumi tried to wet it; Yumi's warm tongue came in contact with the finger for the barest of moments. Both girls widened their eyes in shock; both remained frozen solid, staring at each other with Sachiko's now slightly wet thumb still on Yumi's bottom lip. Yumi could not process what exactly had happened. What she did know, was that it had felt downright _sensual_ and that friends normally didn't think that way. Sachiko was thinking the same, and it made her heart race painfully hard. Her actions had taken an unexpected, yet not unwelcome turn; but because of it, she was now at loss what to do, like Yumi. She felt that her urge to kiss the girl was stronger than ever, but the touch of Yumi's tongue had immobilized her completely. For exactly five seconds. Then her lips came crashing down on Yumi's.

If possible, Yumi's eyes widened even more when she felt Sachiko's lips pressed against hers, but soon all sense of logic vanished when a completely new sensation enveloped her body and senses, a burning heat she did not know she possessed, a burning heat that felt _fabulous_. Yumi closed her eyes and started to kiss Sachiko back, and realized to her amazement that she liked the forcefulness with which the girl was kissing her. She felt Sachiko press her body against her own, pushing it against the door; felt Sachiko's tongue seeking entrance in her mouth; felt how it massaged hers after gaining entrance; felt how her own hands were tangled up in Sachiko's hair, the girl's elegant knot completely loose by now. There were other things she was feeling, but the most important thing was that she noticed how _good_ it all felt. She didn't know how much time had passed since they had begun kissing – it could have been minutes, days or weeks – but when they finally broke down their kiss, she had the feeling she had run her lungs out at a marathon.

"Y-Yumi…" Sachiko felt she was unable to say anything more than that. Her first kiss with Yumi had surpassed even her wildest dreams, and her dreams had been counted among the wildest of Japan.

"…" Yumi was trying to take deep breaths. Her body was still on fire and it wasn't going to cool down any time soon, especially not with the sight of a dishevelled Sachiko before her. How much she had admired Sachiko in the silver-coloured dress earlier the evening, the only thing she wished for now was that she could discard it. Yumi temporarily stopped breathing because she could not believe she could actually think like that. Was she slowly turning into Yoshino, perhaps?

"Yumi…" Sachiko was the first to regain a normal breathing. "I…" However, she didn't know how to explain herself; she had no idea what to say at all. She wanted to show what she felt, rather than saying it. To her surprise, she felt Yumi fulfilling that wish, as though the girl had read her mind.

"Sachiko-sama…" Yumi breathed in between her heated kisses. Yumi had come to the conclusion that she didn't want to just have a normal friendship with Sachiko, after all. Not when it felt so right. Not when in felt as if every inch of her body was filled with love for Sachiko. She felt she could barely control her actions; had these feelings been inside of her all along? Thinking became nearly impossible again when she felt Sachiko start to explore other parts of her body.

"Yumi," Sachiko hoarsely whispered while she was kissing the younger girl's neck. "I love you… I love you so very much…"

Yumi felt a warm feeling spread itself over her entire body. Happiness was completely taking over her body, making her feel dizzy. Yumi knew they would need to talk later. Right now, she just wanted to let herself be swept away by Sachiko.

_**Several days later…**_

"Sachiko, I see you have brought Yumi-chan with you!" Youko said enthusiastically when Sachiko entered the room with Yumi following behind her.

"Welcome, _Yu-mi-chan_!" Sei tried to glomp Yumi, but was effectively tackled by Sachiko.

They were in the Rose Mansion. The room was decorated nicely in gold and everyone was wearing festive Santa-hats; a gigantic Christmas tree stood proudly in the corner of the room; the smell of freshly baked cookies wafted through the air. It was the day of the Yamayurikai Christmas party. Sachiko had not told the other members of the Yamayurikai that she would be bringing Yumi with her. Not that she had not wanted to; in fact, Sachiko had wanted nothing more than to show her happiness to the world, but she had her reasons to keep it to herself until the party.

"That was mean, Sachiko!" Sei pouted after she had picked herself up from the floor. "You can't monopolize Yumi-chan!"

"That's not the matter here," Sachiko retorted angrily. "I just don't want you to do whatever you like, Rosa Gigantea!"

"So, Yumi-chan, why did you come to the Christmas party with Sachiko?" Youko asked before Sei could respond.

"Sachiko-sama was so kind to invite me, and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun," Yumi replied.

"That's true, the Christmas parties are always a guarantee for lots of fun," Sei said with a hint of glee in her voice. "I remember last year, when Eriko got drunk and tried to stri-"

"I thought we had agreed never to talk about it again," Eriko cut in brusquely. "Or must I remind you, _Rosa Gigantea_, of that time when we went to watch the fireworks on New Year's Eve?"

"Ahahaha, got it…"

"What did Eriko-sama try to do?" Yoshino asked eagerly.

"Tut tut, Yoshino-chan, that's really none of your business," Eriko said. "But oh my, I _do_ wonder why you would want to know such a fabulous piece of gossip…"

Yoshino glared at Eriko and the others laughed. The atmosphere in the room was pleasant and relaxed. Everyone was talking and eating and enjoying themselves. Some time later, while everyone was looking at Sei imitating a duck, Sachiko put a hand on her onee-sama's shoulder.

"Onee-sama, there's something I wanted to do in front of you," she said seriously. She smiled at Yumi, who nodded. Sensing that Youko wasn't paying attention to her anymore, Sei cut off her imitation, making the room's atmosphere turn 180 degrees. Everyone was silent now and looking at Sachiko, who was standing before Yumi. Youko was clenching her glass, as if she couldn't believe what she was witnessing. The rest was gawping. Sachiko slowly took out a rosary and held it before Yumi.

"Yumi, would you do me the honour of being your soeur?" Sachiko said. Yumi smiled brightly, answered with a clear "Yes!" and Sachiko gave her the rosary, completing the ceremony. Rei was the first to regain her speech and her "Congratulations!" was soon followed by the others.

"Sachiko, congratulations!" Youko said, beaming at her soeur. "I must admit, this was quite sudden, but-"

"Oh wait, everyone, I wasn't finished yet," Sachiko interrupted. She smiled at her confused friends, laughed when she saw Yumi's equally befuddled look and before anyone could register what was happening, Sachiko had taken her petite soeur in her arms and was kissing her rather passionately. She grinned when she felt Yumi responding to her kiss quite eagerly, obviously not bothered by the fact that about six people were staring at them with their mouths hanging wide open. Sachiko couldn't care less either. In fact, she was enjoying it to the fullest because she had succeeded in making everyone speechless, but what really made her happy was that from this moment, Yumi was officially her petite soeur. She was finally caught.


End file.
